Early maternal separation, nightmares, and bad dreams: Results from the Hungarostudy Epidemiological Panel

Csóka, Szilvia; Simor, Péter; Szabó, Gábor; Kopp, Mária; Bódizs, Róbert

doi:10.1080/14616734.2011.553991

Cited by 29 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…A study of very early adversity (62) in a nationally representative sample of 5,020 Hungarian adults demonstrated an association between retrospectively reported maternal separation for at least a month in the first year of life and currently recalling frequent nightmares. The effect was independent of age, gender, and education, but not depression.…”

Section: The Ravages Of Early Adversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares

Nielsen

2017

Front. Neurol.

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Adverse childhood experiences can deleteriously affect future physical and mental health, increasing risk for many illnesses, including psychiatric problems, sleep disorders, and, according to the present hypothesis, idiopathic nightmares. Much like post-traumatic nightmares, which are triggered by trauma and lead to recurrent emotional dreaming about the trauma, idiopathic nightmares are hypothesized to originate in early adverse experiences that lead in later life to the expression of early memories and emotions in dream content. Accordingly, the objectives of this paper are to (1) review existing literature on sleep, dreaming and nightmares in relation to early adverse experiences, drawing upon both empirical studies of dreaming and nightmares and books and chapters by recognized nightmare experts and (2) propose a new approach to explaining nightmares that is based upon the Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of mental illness. The latter stipulates that susceptibility to mental illness is increased by adversity occurring during a developmentally sensitive window for emotional maturation—the infantile amnesia period—that ends around age 3½. Early adversity accelerates the neural and behavioral maturation of emotional systems governing the expression, learning, and extinction of fear memories and may afford short-term adaptive value. But it also engenders long-term dysfunctional consequences including an increased risk for nightmares. Two mechanisms are proposed: (1) disruption of infantile amnesia allows normally forgotten early childhood memories to influence later emotions, cognitions and behavior, including the common expression of threats in nightmares; (2) alterations of normal emotion regulation processes of both waking and sleep lead to increased fear sensitivity and less effective fear extinction. These changes influence an affect network previously hypothesized to regulate fear extinction during REM sleep, disruption of which leads to nightmares. This network consists of a fear circuit that includes amygdala, hippocampus, and medial prefrontal cortex and whose substantial overlap with the stress acceleration findings allows the latter to be incorporated into a wider, more developmentally coherent framework.

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Section: The Ravages Of Early Adversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares

Nielsen

2017

Front. Neurol.

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“…Nightmares and bad dreams are also frequent in other populations with dissociative symptoms (Agargün, Kara, Ozer, Selvi, Kiran & Kiran, et al ., ; Agargün, Kara, Ozer, Selvi, Kiran & Ozer,), suicidal behavior (Agargün et al ., ; Agargün, Besiroglu, Cilli et al ., ; Sjöström, Waern & Hetta, ; Tanskanen, Tuomilehto, Viinamäki, Vartiainen, Lehtonen & Puska, ) – two features characteristic in BPD. Moreover, nightmare prevalence and disturbed dreaming were associated to adverse childhood experiences such as early‐life maltreatment (Schäfer & Bader, ) and early maternal separation (Csóka, Simor, Szabó, Kopp & Bódizs, ), events having long‐term impact on the development of BPD (Crawford, Cohen, Chen, Anglin & Ehrensaft, ; Steele & Siever, ). Accordingly Semiz and colleagues () found that heightened dream anxiety as well as impaired subjective sleep quality in BPD patients were related to higher rates of early traumatic experiences.…”

Section: Disturbed Dreaming In Bpdmentioning

confidence: 99%

Altered sleep in Borderline Personality Disorder in relation to the core dimensions of psychopathology

Simor

Horváth

2013

Scandinavian J Psychology

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The aim of the study was to review the literature regarding sleep disturbances in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and to relate the reported sleep alterations to the underlying core dimensions of BPD pathology. We present a qualitative and theoretical review regarding the empirical studies that investigated objective and subjective sleep quality in BPD and in different psychiatric conditions showing high co-morbidity with this disorder. We show that disturbed sleep including sleep fragmentation, alterations in Slow Wave Sleep and REM sleep, and dysphoric dreaming are prevalent symptoms in BPD. We provide a framework relating the specific sleep alterations to the core dimensions of BPD pathology in order to clarify the inconsistencies of the different findings. The specific sleep disturbances in BPD seem to be related to different dimensions of psychopathological functioning and may have detrimental consequences on waking affect and cognition. Investigating disturbed sleep in BPD in relation to waking symptoms and underlying neural functioning would shed more light on the nature of this complex disorder. Moreover, a stronger emphasis on sleep disturbances would enrich the treatment protocols of BPD.

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“…They are more common in women and are associated with an increase in nocturnal awakenings, sleep onset insomnia, daytime memory impairment, and anxiety due to poor nocturnal sleep 11. However, stressful experiences even occurring during childhood could influence the development of depression with sleep complaints, such as oppressive and bad dreams 12. In addition, they can be related to the use of medications, primarily those modifying the levels of neurotransmitters in the central nervous system, such as antidepressants, narcotics, or barbiturates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sleep disorders and depression: brief review of the literature, case report, and nonpharmacologic interventions for depression

Luca

Luca²,

Calandra

2013

CIA

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Sleep disorders are so frequently associated with depression that, in the absence of sleep complaints, a diagnosis of depression should be made with caution. Insomnia, in particular, may occur in 60%–80% of depressed patients. Depressive symptoms are important risk factors for insomnia, and depression is considered an important comorbid condition in patients with chronic insomnia of any etiology. In addition, some drugs commonly prescribed for the treatment of depression may worsen insomnia and impair full recovery from the illness. The aim of this paper is to review briefly and discuss the following topics: common sleep disturbances during depression (in particular pavor nocturnus, nightmares, hypersomnia, and insomnia); circadian sleep disturbances; and treatment of depression by manipulation of the sleep-wake rhythm (chronotherapy, light therapy, cycles of sleep, and manipulation of the sleep-wake rhythm itself). Finally, we present a case report of a 65-year-old Caucasian woman suffering from insomnia associated with depression who was successfully treated with sleep deprivation.

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Early maternal separation, nightmares, and bad dreams: Results from the Hungarostudy Epidemiological Panel

Cited by 29 publications

References 71 publications

The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares

The Stress Acceleration Hypothesis of Nightmares

Altered sleep in Borderline Personality Disorder in relation to the core dimensions of psychopathology

Sleep disorders and depression: brief review of the literature, case report, and nonpharmacologic interventions for depression

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