Yasmina Kattou, edited by Gauthier Delomez / Photo credits: Free-Photos / Pixabay
Around 5.5 million French people suffer from nightmare illness, which results in some people having more nightmares than the average. This illness can be treated by repeating mental imagery, as a psychiatrist explains on Europe 1.
Do you know about nightmare illness? This affects around 5.5 million French people, and even 80% of people who suffer from anxiety disorders or depression. It can materialize in dreams in which one is attacked in a dark alley, the legs feel heavy, as if they are buried in the ground, and it is impossible to escape. You wake up with a start and your heart is racing.
On the occasion of the Sleep Congress which is being held in Lille until this Friday, Europe 1 is looking into this kind of nightmares which happen on average once a month. If bad dreams are more frequent and cause stress or fatigue that persists throughout the day, you should consult.
A scenario to work on during the day
The treatment is based on the repetition of mental imagery. “We ask patients to write another scenario,” explains Pierre-Alexis Geffroy, psychiatrist at Bichat hospital and sleep doctor at the ChronoS center of the Paris-Neuroscience hospital group, at the microphone of Europe 1. “We try to summon all of the senses into the person, a positive vacation spot by the sea, where you can hear the seagulls,” he explains.
“This scenario must be read at least ten minutes a day,” adds Pierre-Alexis Geffroy, promising that “working on this scenario during the day will modify dreams and make nightmares disappear at night.” Patients feel the effects from the first days of practice, and often, it only takes four weeks to return to peaceful sleep in the arms of Morpheus.