The power of hypnosis for dealing with night terrors and other sleep problems

What are night terrors?

Night terrors are a sleep disorder characterised by the sufferer being wide awake and terrified. They can scream or cry out, have rapid, intense breathing, or experience body movements such as thrashing their arms or legs. The person experiencing the night terror will often not recall any of this afterward because the experience is played out subconsciously. Night terrors are different from nightmares because they occur during non-REM sleep when there is no dreaming activity going on in your brain. Night terrors can happen to anyone at any age but they tend to happen more often during childhood and adolescence. When they occur in adults it’s usually down to unresolved or traumatic issues experienced earlier in life not dissimilar to a form of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

Why do we have night terrors?

Nightmares and sleepwalking sleep paralysis are common sleep disturbances that affect between 25 and 30% of the population. There is often discussion on the internet as to why this happens, and while some people are aware they have them, others are not. Typically night terrors occur, because of a disturbance in the brain waves which prevents a person from reaching the levels of sleep pattern most associated with natural, quality sleep. When there is an underlying unresolved ‘stuck’ memory or issue that hasn’t been consciously processed then the mind uses the period when we are meant to be sleeping to resolve the issue. Unfortunately, this typically means a person may create an imbalance in the release of the sleep hormone, melatonin, and stress hormone cortisol, which keeps the person in a disturbed state. In this state, anything being processed may play out as a physical movement, often violent reflexes and outbursts which are not paralyzed as they should be by ‘normal’ sleep cycles.

How can hypnotherapy treat night terrors?

Night terrors can last for minutes, hours, or days, and can have a wide range of possible causes. Current treatment is usually a combination of antidepressants and anticonvulsants, but this can fail. Hypnotherapy can help train the mind to find its own answers and process the stuck emotions and feelings which may have been subconsciously triggering the dysfunctional night terror behaviour. Often the memories which trigger nightmares and night terrors can become a neurological habit which no amount of traditional counseling can address. The mind often needs a way to rewire the habit so that the subconscious trigger can be eliminated and thereby prevent the night terror from being played out. The specific tool we use is called EMDR.

When it comes to treating night terrors, what can EMDR do?

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) is a powerful psychology for rebalancing the subconscious thought patterns often associated with nightmares and night terrors. The reason this approach works so well is that the nature of EMDR closely emulates the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) that takes place when we are dreaming and processing information while dreaming. For people who can’t engage their own REM, EMDR is a way to naturally prompt the processing of information through self-hypnosis and trance and thereby eradicating the stuck memory in a controlled and therapeutic way.

How can hypnotherapy and EMDR help you?

So what can we do for you? Here at the Cumbria Hypnosis Mindfulness Clinic, we have over 15 years of experience helping people to manage this common problem. So if like so many people you’ve been living with nightmares and night terrors and never found an effective solution please reach out and find out what options may be open to you, which you may not have previously considered.

About the author

David Faratian is the principal hypnotherapist at The Cumbria Hypnosis Mindfulness Clinic. He founded Cumbria Hypnosis in 2006 and since then it has consistently been one of the highest-rated and reputable hypnotherapy clinics across Cumbria, South Lakes, and The Northwest. David specializes in a full range of psychological issues and has a dedicated site devoted to each issue. Visit www.cumbria-hypnosis.com