Many of those who experience trauma have a number of troubling symptoms that can persist for months, years and decades after the experience.

One of the symptoms people experience are disturbing dreams that disrupt their sleep. Many people wonder if these dreams are connected to the trauma experience, even if the content of the dream itself is not a direct reflection of the traumatic event. Is this possible? Yes! In this blog, we’ll discuss the link between traumatic events and vivid dreams.

Patriot Support Program Director Sehba Singer had this to say about how trauma often results in nightmares: “Trauma is not stored as a complete narrative and it often does not always maintain a clear beginning, middle or end. It is actually stored in fragments of sound, sensation and experience. What almost always accompanies these fragments is fear. This fear often manifests as the person experiencing nightmares.”

In our Patriot Support Program, nightmares are very common symptom of PTSD among our military patient population, but are also common on our substance abuse and general adult mental health units.

Both nightmares and PTSD flashbacks fall under the umbrella of Reexperiencing Symptoms – which covers nightmares, night terrors, triggers throughout the day, intrusive thoughts or memories of the trauma resurfacing and flashbacks.

But what’s the difference between a vivid dream, a PTSD-related nightmare and a flashback?

• Vivid dreams and nightmares can occur at any time, can be of any content – disturbing, unusual, positive, intense or otherwise – but do not usually bring up emotions and feelings related to a traumatic incident.
• PTSD-related nightmares may be of any content, related or unrelated to the trauma, that brings up feelings, emotions or bodily sensations that you experienced as part of the traumatic event.
• Night terrors occur during the earlier stages of sleep, and more often include things like screaming, crying, sleepwalking, moving around, all while the person is asleep. Patients report they often don’t recall what the night terror was about, unlike nightmares, when the sleeper can recall the content of the dream. It is also harder to rouse a person from sleep during a night terror, and they may be disoriented when they wake up. These can also be associated with PTSD.
• Flashbacks, according to the DSM, is losing orientation in space and time, feeling as if the trauma is occurring in the moment you are in and occurring while you are awake.

Does this mean that a horrible dream might be because of trauma? Yes. PTSD-related nightmares and night terrors, or dreams that bring up memories or emotions associated with the trauma, can be caused by unprocessed trauma.

Program Director Sehba Singer continued, “When we are not able to consciously and intentionally process our trauma, it manifests in our minds and bodies through nightmares or night terrors. The nightmares often do not depict literal experiences that people have had, but there are usually themes, emotions or bodily experiences that the body is attempting to resolve through this process.”

Singer continued, “In working with folks that have PTSD or other trauma diagnoses, we have learned that nightmares are often a very effective way to move into processing and they tend to call immediate attention to what needs to be tended to.” You can think of nightmares as a check-engine light, or a symptom of unresolved trauma. PTSD-related nightmares can be a sign that there is more treatment or processing to do around the traumatic event.

Singer continued, “In our work at Patriot Support Program, we believe that nightmares offer a window into the most distressing and unresolved parts of a person’s trauma history. The body is asking us to contend with something that is difficult for us to connect to and that we may avoid in our waking state. As therapists, we conceptualize nightmares as a subconscious invitation for where the work needs to begin.”

Nightmares often disrupt a person’s ability to sleep, causing daytime fatigue, moodiness and overall health problems. This may motivate the person to seek treatment for the trauma to resolve some mental stuck points. In this way, nightmares can be thought of as the body’s way of pushing the person to seek treatment.

Here at Salt Lake Behavioral Health, we treat many different types of trauma, but a specialty of ours is combat-related or military sexual trauma, addressed in our Patriot Support Program for service members and veterans. Regardless, we have treated individuals from all walks of life who have dealt with diverse traumas, and trauma-related nightmares. Here are some of the interventions our providers on our mental health units have used to treat nightmares:

• Talk therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy
• Right-brain processes such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), as well as other therapies such as expressive therapy and music therapy.
• Medication
• Medical interventions – sometimes something as simple as implementing a CPAP for sleep apnea will help the patient sleep more deeply and reduce the number of nightmares. The patient may also have some other type of medical condition impacting their sleep that can be addressed.

Singer continues, “In utilizing somatic and right brain processes such as EMDR, we are often able to access the fragments of trauma and help people contend with the sensations, fear and associated emotions they experience as a result of the nightmare and the underlying trauma. This helps to bring these fragments out of the subconscious and into the conscious mind where we can begin to process and help alleviate the suffering that is being experienced.”

No, there are many other factors that can influence nightmares, such as stress, anxiety, medications, substance use, disturbing media or events, medical problems and even different foods can have an effect on nightmares. Talk to your doctor or therapist about getting help for nightmares.

If you or someone you know is struggling with nightmares and has been through a traumatic incident, Salt Lake Behavioral Health is happy to provide a level of care assessment. Just call 801-264-6000, or walk in. For military members and veterans struggling with PTSD, please call 801-850-1982 or learn more about the Patriot Support Program.

In case of a mental health crisis, CALL 988 or seek the nearest emergency room.

For physical health emergencies, CALL 911 or seek the nearest emergency room.

Salt Lake Behavioral Health is a private freestanding psychiatric hospital that specializes in mental health and substance abuse treatment. Our services are provided to adults 18 years and older. Located in Salt Lake City, Utah, we also service the surrounding areas.

Here at our facility we offer a comfortable and confidential atmosphere. We pride ourselves on having specialty behavioral programs that are tailored to meet the needs of each individual. Some of our program include our addiction, inpatient and outpatient services.

To schedule a no cost 24/7 assessment, give us a call at (801)264-6000.