Sleep Terror Disorder Not Related To Nightmares
If your child wakes up in the middle of the night screaming in sheer terror, they may be suffering from pavor nocturmus, better known as sleep terror disorder. Often this is confused with nightmares, but there is a major difference in that the child often remembers what caused their nightmare while they may not wake up at all during an episode of sleep terror disorder and will not remember being awake.
Episodes of sleep terror disorder are prevalent in children between about three and eight years of age, although they can be experienced by older children as well as adults. The exact cause of sleep terror disorder is unknown, however it is often attributed to stress or lack of sleep. During an episode, which can be frightening to the parents, typically the episode will last between 10 and 20 minutes, after which the child will return to sleep and have no memory of the event the next morning.
Determining the difference between sleep terror disorder and the child waking up during a bad dream should be easy enough, as the child may be able to explain about monsters under the bed of falling through space when they have a nightmare. While these scary dreams occur during the REM sleep stage, the memory of the event is usually vivid when the child wakes up. They will also be awake immediately after the dream while being comforted by a parent.
Sleep Terror Memory Remains Elusive
Rarely will a child suffering from sleep terror disorder have any idea the next day of what scared them awake. While a parent is holding the child during an episode, the child will remain asleep, completely unaware they are having a problem. Despite repeated attempts by the parent to calm the child they will not be consciously awake and will be unable to talk about what caused the fear.
If a child continues to suffer from sleep terror disorder, eliminating the environmental causes of the stress and making sure the child is getting appropriate sleep most evenings can help reduce the number of sleep terror disorder episodes. In some severe and long-lasting cases the doctor may prescribe sedatives to remove the stress and help the child sleep throughout the night.
Parents, however should not attempt to self-diagnose or medicate the child without consulting with the physician. There may be some hidden causes stress for the child that the doctor can diagnose and help eliminate. Typically, after the age of eight the sleep terror disorder will disappear on its own.
