before sleep can cause nightmares, but there is little scientific evidence for this. Severe nightmares are also likely to occur when a person has a fever, these nightmares are often referred to as fever dreams. Treatment Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung seemed to have shared a belief that people frequently distressed by nightmares could be re-experiencing some stressful event from the past. Both perspectives on dreams suggest that therapy can provide relief from the dilemma of the nightmarish experience. Halliday (1987) grouped treatment techniques into four classes. Direct nightmare interventions that combine compatible techniques from one or more of these classes may enhance overall treatment effectiveness: Analytic and cathartic techniques Storyline alteration procedures Face-and-conquer approaches Desensitization and related behavioral techniques Post-traumatic stress disorder Recurring post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) nightmares in which traumas are re-experienced respond well to a technique called imagery rehearsal. This involves dreamers coming up with alternative, mastery outcomes to the nightmares, mentally rehearsing those outcomes while awake, and then reminding themselves at bedtime that they wish these alternate outcomes should the nightmares reoccur. Research has found that this technique not only reduces the occurrence of nightmares and insomnia, but also improves other daytime PTSD symptoms. The most common variations of imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) "relate to the number of sessions, duration of treatment, and the degree to which exposure therapy is included in the protocol". Medication Prazosin (alpha-1 blocker) appears useful in decreasing the number of nightmares and the distress caused by them in people with PTSD. Risperidone (atypical antipsychotic) at a dosage of 2 mg per day, has been shown in case series to remission of nightmares on the first night. Trazodone (antidepressant) has been shown in a case report to treat nightmares associated with a depressed patient. Trials have included hydrocortisone, gabapentin, paroxetine, tetrahydrocannabinol, eszopiclone, xyrem, and carvedilol. See also Bogeyman False awakening Horror and terror Mare (folklore) Night terror Nightmare disorder Nocnitsa Sleep disorder Sleep paralysis Succubus Incubus A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984 film References Further reading External links Night-Mares: Demons that Cause Nightmares Dream Fear Sleep disorders