Marzia Albanese

 

Sleep disturbances are a relevant symptom in post-traumatic stress disorders. Among these, nightmares play a central role in the maintenance and worsening of clinical symptoms.

Bothered by nightmares, traumatized patients have frequent awakenings and this favors the overall symptoms of the disorder: lack of concentration, dissociative phenomena, sense of irreparability. At the same time, nightmares can be a powerful resource in treatment.

Thanks to their content, it is possible to work on the patient’s pathogenic beliefs and facilitate the processing of the traumatic event.

This article describes a therapeutic intervention that involves the work on the dream content and, through a clinical exemplification, describes the clinically relevant nightmares and the work done on their content.

 

nightmares, post-traumatic stress disorder, pathogenic beliefs, dreams, migrants, trauma

 

 

Received on November 20, 2021

Accepted on January 30, 2022

Firstly published online on May 23, 2022