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Showing posts with label night terror treatment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label night terror treatment. Show all posts

Thursday, 2 August 2012

Night Terrors Solved by Past Life Regression

http://stephanieriseley.com/%E2%80%9Cnight-terror%E2%80%9D-dreams-healed-with-past-life-regressions.html This is a fascinating piece my Stephanie Riseley detailing the sorts of night terrors/nightmares that can be solved by Past Life Regression. Issues in 'past lives' causing problems in current lives is as baffling as it is interesting, but if the treatment is solving these issues then clearly it is something worthy of consideration.


(What are Night Terrors?)

When Martha, an elegant forty-year-old mother of two from Encino, called she told me that she had “potty mouth” dreams. They embarrassed her because she “swears like a sailor” in her sleep, and she wakes up her children. She’d tried talking therapy, drugs, but nothing had helped her. Another client, a beautiful twenty-four-year old, said she’d had “night terror” dreams all her life; she woke up just screaming in terror, not knowing what she why she was so afraid. After years of trying to get to the source of her problem, her psychiatrist suggested she try a past life regression. Both women did the preliminary work before we did their regressions.

In the first regression, Martha saw her own birth, and was surprised at how much she didn’t like her own mother – all she wanted was to be held by her father. The first regression led her to a life in Sweden, where she refused to forgive her “wife,” and died alone. She then “connected” with her “spirit guide” in the In Between, and asked if he could show her the source of the swearing, and he said “Next time.”

When “next time” came, she “went back in time” to the ‘50s in the San Fernando Valley. “I recognize the terrain,” she said. “It’s the Valley all right. But the houses are just being built. I’m an eight-year-old boy, and it feels as if I’m in the Land of Lost Boys. All we do is run wild, and play all day. It’s so fun! (Very weird for me, because I actually grew up in the ‘50s… in the Valley of the “play all day outside” kids.)

I said, “Go find your parents.”
But she said, “No! I want to go to Bobby’s house.”
I said, “Who’s Bobby?”
“Bobby’s my best friend.” And then she was silent. “Oh, my God! Bobby is my dad! No one calls him Bobby now. He’s Robert.”

So she went to his parents, (her own grandparents in this life!), and she grew up with Bobby, and even double dated with the “girl” who would become her own mother. And he/she didn’t like her then. He graduated high school in 1966, and was drafted into the Vietnam War.

“What’s happening now?” I asked.
“I’m with my men… something’s weird with my feet. I have moldy feet. I’m carrying a machine gun. It’s wet, hot – we’re in the jungle. I don’t know why we’re here. There’s a village up ahead. We shouldn’t be here. There’s only old women and children here. No reason.” Then she grabbed her neck. “I’ve been killed!”
What happened?
“This old lady sliced my throat open! With a machete!”
“Okay,” I said, “now take a minute. Is she still alive? Look around.”
“No! My guys killed her, too.”
“Now, look her in the eye. I want to bow to her as if you were Asian, and ask her forgiveness. You came into her village armed, and she had no choice but to protect it. Ask her forgiveness.”

She asked the woman to forgive her/him and that released a lifetime – and past life – of anger and guilt. The dreams never came back again.

What’s amazing to me is that she was born to her old best friend, Bobby. And because Martha, now a mother herself, saw how it was her own attitude toward her mother that made their relationship difficult, she was able to heal that relationship as well.

For another client, Julia, her dreams had been so terrifying that she’d be nervous about going to sleep. Nothing had helped relieve symptoms, and finally her psychiatrist suggested she come see me. When she “went back in time,” she was in the Middle East somewhere – she wasn’t sure if it was Assyria, Egypt, or it might have been Persia – but she was from the ruling class. She saw herself sitting by an exquisite pool, in a hanging garden. She was a young woman who was about to be married to the ruler’s son. When I asked, “Do you recognize him from anyone you know in this lifetime?”

She said, “It’s Jared!” And that’s her fiancĂ© in this lifetime. In the “next pivotal experiences,” she saw that she’d married, and had two beautiful children and that her husband was now the ruler. She felt loved and happy. On a great feast day, she said, “Something’s happening. Everyone’s screaming. The men on the horses have broken through the gates of the city.” From whatever neighboring tribe or city they came from, they were clearly out for revenge, because they grabbed her, raped her, and forced her husband to watch. And then they forced her to watch as they murdered her husband and children. She actually didn’t need to see any more of the regression, because she’d seen it again and again in her dreams – but she never had that dream again. And now, three years later, she and Jared are still engaged, still happy and looking forward to having those two children join them once again.

Monday, 11 June 2012

Night Terrors

I have covered different dream states before in a number of posts, but never Night Terrors. According to research Night Terrors affect around 15% of (mainly) young children and 3% of adults... but what are they and how do they affect our sleep?


Definition
Sleep terror disorder or "night terrors" is a condition that occurs during stages 3 or 4 of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. It is characterized by repeated episodes of abrupt awakening, usually with a panicky scream, and accompanied by intense anxiety, confusion, agitation, disorientation, unresponsiveness, marked motor movements, and total amnesia concerning the event.

Description
Night terrors usually occur 1/2 hour to 3 1/2 hours after falling asleep. During these episodes people wake up sweating heavily, their hearts pounding and eyes glazed over, screaming in fear. They are unaware of their surroundings and unresponsive to attempts to comfort them. They may not calm down for 10 or 15 minutes, although they return to sleep quickly once the episode ends.
Generally they do not remember what scared them, but rarely a person will retain a vague image of something terrifying. A few children and adults who experience night terrors will sleepwalk during the episode.

Causes
Night terrors strike children, usually between the ages of 3 years and 8 years. They rarely occur in older children, adolescents and adults.
In both adults and children, night terrors may be caused by unresolved psychological conflicts, traumatic events or fatigue. In children, traumas such as the loss of a favorite toy, overhearing a loud argument between parents, watching scenes of violence on television or listening to frightening stories could trigger a night terror.
Particularly among adults, prescription drugs such as antihistamines, decongestants, levodopa, reserpine, beta blockers, and antidepressants, as well as withdrawal from addictive drugs, all can provoke sleep disturbance.

Treatment
Night terrors in children usually disappear with adolescence, so standard medical treatment is not necessary. The doctor may advise the parents to adjust the sleep habits of the child to allow for more sleep time, and eliminate stresses in the child's life.
Additionally, the parents should determine when the night terrors usually occur and fully awaken the child about 15 minutes before that time. After 4 or 5 minutes, the child can return to sleep. The waking is discontinued once the terrors stop, which in most circumstances is usually within a week.
In severe cases of night terrors the doctor may prescribe an antidepressant such as imipramine (Tofranil) or a benzodiazepine drug called chlordiazepoxide which relieves nervousness or tension and also treats insomnia.
Night terrors in adults can be treated with medications such as an antidepressant called Tofranil or benzodiazepine drugs such as Klonopin or Valium. Additionally, the doctor may recommend psychotherapy, which is a method of treating emotional problems. In psychotherapy, the patient talks with a therapist about their concerns and problems that may be linked to this sleep disturbance.
Note: never yell or shake a person experiencing a night terror, this will only confuse and upset them more. Comforting them with a hug or gently restraining them will help.


Hypnosis has also been proved a successful method of treating Night Terrors WITHOUT the use of potentially harmful drugs, in both adults and children. In the same process as removing recurrent nightmares from your sleep, if the root cause of the psychological stress can be located it can then be dealt with and removed, and this process can be carried out quite simply using hypnotherapy.