How to confort a friend after Traumatic Nightmares
Traumatic nightmares can impact a person’s life in a variety of ways, as it could cause sleep disturbances, insomnia, irritability, and poor concentration. As a result, it might lead to a substandard performance at work and relationship problems, which could damage a person’s emotional wellbeing and financial future.
If your loved one is struggling with frightening dreams, you will likely want to help them enjoy a better night’s sleep. Find out how to comfort a friend or family member suffering from traumatic nightmares. Here’s how to help a friend with PTSD.
Support Your Friend with PTSD
It is likely the traumatic nightmares your friend is regularly experiencing is a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is an anxiety disorder that typically develops within one month of a trauma, but it could also take many months or years to transpire.
It is, therefore, wise to encourage your friend to get to the root of their traumatic nightmares, which they can do by facing PTSD head-on. Thankfully, there are a number of treatment options available to help people overcome the disorder, such as:
- Stellate ganglion block (SBG) injection
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)
- Exposure therapy
- Medications
Each option offers various benefits and a patient might need to try different treatment options or use a combination of the above, to successfully move on from a traumatic experience, such as abuse, physical or sexual trauma, military combat, or an injury.
Talk to Them
If your friend is struggling with PTSD that is causing them nightmares, you must be careful not to pressure them into talking about a traumatic experience. Instead, you should inform them you are available to talk about an event if they wish to, and you could even offer moral support by driving him or her to a therapy session. With your love and support, they could soon enjoy a better night’s sleep and pleasant dreams.
Encourage Medical Help
If a friend’s nightmares do not stem from a traumatic event, it is possible their frightening dreams could be caused by anxiety, stress, medications, or another mental health disorder. If this is the case, you should encourage them to seek medical help to get to the root cause of the problem.
Give the Gift of Sleeping Aids
You also could help them to experience a more enjoyable night’s sleep by gifting them with various sleeping aids. For example, calming music, an eye mask, white noise machine or a sleep-promoting supplement could help them to rest well each night. The thoughtful presents might not only help them to enjoy a better quality of sleep, but your support could make them feel loved during this difficult time in their lives.
Conclusion
It might seem like an impossible feat to help a friend who is struggling with traumatic nightmares. The above actions could, however, help your loved one to get to the root cause of their terrifying dreams so that they can enjoy a restful night’s sleep and a better quality of life.
If you are looking for treatment, feel free to fill out the questionnaire or give us a call our team will be happy to help you.
This post is also available in:
Español (Spanish)