The present study replicated the fi

The present study replicated the findings of previous investigations (Lusignan et al., 2009; Okorome Mume, 2009) that patients with schizophrenia experienced significantly more nightmares compared to healthy controls and linked nightmare frequency to patients’ daytime distress. Moreover, ARMS patients also showed elevated nightmare frequencies. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evaluation of nightmare frequency in ARMS patients.
However, the results must be qualified by some limitations. Sixteen of the seventeen participants in the patient group were under medical treatment. Consequently, dreams of schizophrenic patients might not have been as affected by the illness as they would be without medication. It has been found that typical antipsychotic agents have positive effects on sleep disorders as well as effects on dreaming, especially in the form of dampening dream content (Lusignan et al., 2009). There are, however, no data available on how atypical neuroleptics like those analyzed in the present study affect dream content. The actual dream pattern might therefore be blurred. However, clinical experience indicates that antipsychotics do not have nightmares as a side-effect (Benkert & Hippius, 2011). Moreover, three of the ARMS patients that received medical treatment with antidepressants had more nightmares, a side-effect that is quite common to antidepressants (Benkert & Hippius, 2011).
The elevated nightmare frequency of those afflicted with schizophrenia has been found to be attended by distress, which is probably due to the disorder. The likely relation between distress and nightmares has also been mentioned in an article by Okorome Mume (2009). Additionally, it has been found that positive symptomatology, as well as negative symptoms, does not have a strong influence on the elevated nightmare rates. Thus patients’ hallucinations or delusions do not act upon the negativity of their dreams. Nightmares therefore seem not to mirror symptoms specific to schizophrenia, but rather daytime distress accompanying this disorder. This relation is in line with the continuity hypothesis (Schredl, 2003a) and confirms the formulated hypothesis of the present study.
When considering results of the relatives with respect to nightmare frequency, no differences compared to healthy controls could be found. This finding is another confirmation of the hypothesis that distress resulting from the disorder causes nightmares.
In this study, nightmare frequency of ARMS patients was studied in an explorative manner. The results for this group were comparable to results of the schizophrenic group. The ARMS patients receiving no medical treatment also exhibited higher nightmare frequencies when compared to controls, indicating that heightened nightmare frequencies in the schizophrenic group were not explained by medication effects. As the healthy controls were chosen to match the sample of schizophrenic patients, the age mean of the ARMS patients is somewhat lower (as expected) than for the controls. The age difference, however, is quite small and representative studies (Schredl, 2010, 2013) indicate that age has a negligible effect on nightmare frequency. The intensity of prodromal symptoms and the severity of depression symptoms were not correlated with nightmare frequency; one might speculate that nightmare frequency is related to waking-life distress; even though the correlation was non-significant in this small sample.
The results of the present study suggest that nightmare therapy as well as stress reduction for schizophrenic patients might be beneficial, since it was not the positive symptoms, but rather levels of distress that accompanyi the disorder, that seem to elevate nightmare frequency. For future research it would be interesting to find out more about the relation between distress and nightmare frequency. The present study did not inquire concerning the direction of causality between these two constructs. It is, thus, still unclear whether a heightened stress level results in more nightmares or if the causality is vice versa. This could be studied by means of a longitudinal study involving ARMS patients followed up to first episode of psychosis and/or in schizophrenic patients during the course of their illness. Here, waking-life distress and nightmare frequency should be assessed as a means for taking a closer look at the interaction between stress and nightmares. As nightmares in childhood predict psychotic symptoms at the age of 12 yrs. (Fisher et al., 2014) and frequent childhood nightmares were often find in case histories of schizophrenic patients (Hartmann, Russ, & Van der Kolk, 1979), it would be very interesting to carry out longitudinal studies with children suffering from frequent nightmares

ผลลัพธ์ (อังกฤษ) 2:

The present study replicated the findings of previous investigations (Lusignan et al., 2009; Okorome Mume, 2009) that patients with schizophrenia experienced significantly more nightmares compared to healthy controls and linked nightmare frequency to patients' daytime distress. Moreover, ARMS patients also showed elevated nightmare frequencies. To the best of our Knowledge, this is the nightmare First evaluation of frequency in ARMS patients.
However, the results must be qualified by Some limitations. Sixteen of the seventeen participants in the patient group were under medical treatment. Consequently, dreams of schizophrenic patients might not have been as affected by the illness as they would be without medication. It has been found that typical antipsychotic agents have positive effects on sleep disorders as well as effects on dreaming, especially in the form of dampening dream content (Lusignan et al., 2009). There are, however, no data available on how atypical neuroleptics like those analyzed in the present study affect dream content. The actual dream pattern might therefore be blurred. However, clinical experience indicates that antipsychotics do not have nightmares as a side-effect (Benkert & Hippius, 2011). Moreover, Three of the ARMS patients that received Medical Treatment with antidepressants had more nightmares, a Side-Effect that is quite common to antidepressants (Benkert & Hippius, 2011th).
The Elevated nightmare frequency of those afflicted with schizophrenia has been Found to be attended. by distress, which is probably due to the disorder. The likely relation between distress and nightmares has also been mentioned in an article by Okorome Mume (2009). Additionally, it has been found that positive symptomatology, as well as negative symptoms, does not have a strong influence on the elevated nightmare rates. Thus patients' hallucinations or delusions do not act upon the negativity of their dreams. Nightmares therefore seem not to mirror symptoms specific to schizophrenia, but rather daytime distress accompanying this disorder. This relation is in line with the continuity hypothesis (Schredl, 2003a) and confirms the hypothesis formulated Study of the present.
When considering the results of relatives with respect to frequency nightmare, no differences could be compared to Healthy Controls Found. Finding another Confirmation of this is the hypothesis that distress resulting from the Disorder causes nightmares.
In this Study, nightmare frequency of ARMS patients was studied in an explorative manner. The results for this group were comparable to results of the schizophrenic group. The ARMS patients receiving no medical treatment also exhibited higher nightmare frequencies when compared to controls, indicating that heightened nightmare frequencies in the schizophrenic group were not explained by medication effects. As the healthy controls were chosen to match the sample of schizophrenic patients, the age mean of the ARMS patients is somewhat lower (as expected) than for the controls. The age difference, however, is quite small and representative studies (Schredl, 2010, 2013) indicate that age has a negligible effect on nightmare frequency. The intensity of prodromal symptoms and the severity of depression symptoms were not correlated with nightmare frequency; one might speculate that nightmare frequency is related to waking-life distress; even though the correlation was non-significant in this Small sample.
The results of the present Study suggest that nightmare Therapy as well as Stress Reduction for schizophrenic patients might be beneficial, since it was not the positive symptoms, but rather levels of distress that Accompanyi. the disorder, that seem to elevate nightmare frequency. For future research it would be interesting to find out more about the relation between distress and nightmare frequency. The present study did not inquire concerning the direction of causality between these two constructs. It is, thus, still unclear whether a heightened stress level results in more nightmares or if the causality is vice versa. This could be studied by means of a longitudinal study involving ARMS patients followed up to first episode of psychosis and / or in schizophrenic patients during the course of their illness. Here, waking-life distress and nightmare frequency should be assessed as a means for taking a closer look at the interaction between stress and nightmares. As nightmares in childhood predict psychotic symptoms at the age of 12 yrs. (Fisher et al., 2014) and frequent childhood nightmares were often find in case histories of schizophrenic patients (Hartmann, Russ, & Van der Kolk, 1979), it would be very interesting to carry out longitudinal studies with children suffering from frequent nightmares.