Chapter 13 - Sleep terrors

Summary

During Rhazes' time, research shows that mater puerorum have been used to describe both epileptic attacks and night terrors. In a case report published in 1953, Sullivan described night terrors as an indication of an emotional problem arising out of certain stages in a child's development. Classically, night terrors arise during the first sleep cycle, usually within 1-3 hours of sleep. Parents identified the following as precipitants: overtiredness, fever, separation, loss, moving, divorce, change of school, death in the family, return to school from vacation, or change of school. The prevalence of sleepwalking and night terrors in first-degree relatives was estimated as being ten times greater than in the general population. Treatment of night terrors can be divided into two categories: behavioral and medical strategies. Night terrors are fascinating entities that share many of the same characteristics of the other parasomnias occurring as arousals from non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.