SynthesisBMC psychiatry2023
Psychosocial treatments for nightmares in adults and children: a systematic review.
Synthesis in BMC psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Current and Emerging Therapies for Pediatric Sleep Disorders: A Narrative Review.Neurology and therapy · 2026Review
- Dream content and slow waves benefit prey against predator in a video game confrontation.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- DARC-NESS: a mastery-based cognitive-behavioral model for treating chronic nightmares in youth.Frontiers in sleep · 2026Article
- Spanish Translation and Psychometric Evidence of the Nightmare Disorder Index (NDI) in Adults from the General Population.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- Treating war- and conflict-related nightmares in children and youth: outcomes of a school-based intervention.Frontiers in sleep · 2025Article
- Understanding and Treating Nightmares: A Comprehensive Review of Psychosocial Strategies for Adults and Children.Cureus · 2024Review
- Efficacy of a telehealth cognitive behavioral therapy for improving sleep and nightmares in children aged 6-17.Frontiers in sleep · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAs nightmares may be a risk factor for, or symptom of, multiple psychological disorders, some researchers suggest that nightmares should be screened, diagnosed, and treated. Treatments for nightmares include trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Image Rehearsal Therapy, and pharmacological interventions such as prazosin and nitrazepam. As recent research has put into question our current understanding of treatment efficacy, there is a need to systematically review findings related to the effectiveness of nightmare treatments to inform best practice. The current review assessed the efficacy of psychosocial treatments of nightmare in all cohorts.
methodsA systematic search of four databases for peer reviewed journal articles from 2000 onwards produced 69 (35 RCTs, 34 non-RCTs) eligible articles that underwent narrative synthesis.
resultsThe results provide strong evidence for exposure and image rehearsal treatments for the reduction of nightmare frequency, severity, and distress, in civilian, military, idiopathic, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cohorts. There is emerging evidence that self-guided and brief treatment modalities offer efficient and effective treatment options. There is an urgent need for clinical trials of treatment effectiveness in children.
conclusionsThe results suggest that treatments for nightmares are most effective when they facilitate a sense of control or mastery by directly targeting the nightmare content and/or the client's emotional responses to the nightmare content.
trial registrationA review protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020204861).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.