YouTube Clip of the Week: “Nightmares Vs. Night Terrors”
People with depression can get bad dreams, nightmares and night terrors. There is a misconception that night terrors are really bad nightmares. No — nightmares are nightmares, no matter how bad they are in intensity and frequency.
Night terrors are much worse — well, at least for anyone else in the room. This is where you actually get up and act out your nightmares. I used to have a boyfriend that had night terrors in his twenties. I eventually made him sleep in a seperate bedroom, because I was sick of dodging fists in the wee hours of the morning.
But, I’m not a doctor or therapist. This YouTube clip is a much better explanation of the difference between nightmares and night terrors. This is an explanation from a pediatrician, but night terrors, nightmares and bad dreams can happen at any age.
By the way, “bad dreams” are not as bad as nightmares — more annoying than anything else. Some doctors and therapists do make a distinction between bad dreams and nightmares, which is why I seperate bad dreams into their own category.
If you’ve started a new medication and you’ve never, ever had night terrors in your life and suddenly get them, please contact your doctor. Ditto if you suddenly start sleepwalking.
Sleepwalking is sort of like night terrors, only it’s a heck of a lot more benign. You don’t go around punching people. My family has this storu of me sleepwalking as a kid. All I did was lower all of the blinds or pull the curtains in the house, then I went back to bed. Of course, I don’t know if they’re making this story up or not.
June 22nd, 2010 at 6:15 pm
what if i have another night terror? i guess i’ll just run to night-terrors-children.com to get quick advice