Saturday, August 14, 2010

Should Nightmares Have Happy Endings?

THERAPY Computers track data at the Maimonides clinic in Albuquerque.

Therapy may help people who suffer from chronic nightmares learn how to turn bad dreams into good ones. But now some experts wonder if changing your nightmares from scary to safe is always a good idea, reports Sarah Kershaw in Science Times.

    The technique, used while patients are awake, is called scripting or dream mastery and is part of imagery rehearsal therapy. The therapy is being used to treat a growing number of nightmare sufferers. In recent years, nightmares have increasingly been viewed as a distinct disorder, and researchers have produced a growing body of empirical evidence that this kind of cognitive therapy can help reduce their frequency and intensity, or even eliminate them.

    The treatments are controversial. Some therapists, particularly Jungian analysts, take issue with changing nightmares’ content, arguing that dreams send crucial messages to the waking mind.

To learn more, read the full article, “Following a Script to Escape a Nightmare,” then please join the discussion below.

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