Sometimes they indicate that the sleeper has a psychological disturbance of some kind or is going through a period of extreme anxiety, especially if the sleeper has recurring nightmares with the same or similar themes. However, everyone has nightmares occasionally. There is no specific treatment for nightmares, but psychotherapy may help if they are caused by an underlying psychological disturbance. The sleeper screams and wakes up terrified, but is unable to explain what happened. The terror may last for 10 or 20 minutes and can be extremely upsetting to the child's parents or caregivers - however, the child usually can't remember the episode in the morning.
Children generally outgrow night terrors.
The disorder seems to run in families and can occur in adults - often, adult sufferers are experiencing extreme stress or anxiety in their lives. Insomnia Everyone has occasionally experienced insomnia, or the inability to fall and stay asleep. For most of us, however, insomnia is temporary. Sometimes, older people who seek treatment for insomnia are simply experiencing a normal change in sleep patterns - older people tend to fall asleep easily and wake up earlier than they did when they were younger. Treatment for insomnia depends on the cause.