doi:10.1037/1053-0797.14.4.195

Paper Title

Increased Mastery Elements Associated With Imagery Rehearsal Treatment for Nightmares in Sexual Assault Survivors With PTSD

Authors

Mary P. Koss

Barry Krakow

Michael A. Hollifield

Keywords

Nightmares
Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT)
PTSD
Sexual Assault Survivors
Mastery Elements
Nightmare Reduction
Dream Scripting
Therapeutic Processes
Exposure
Abreaction
Positive Dream Elements
Negative Dream Elements
Trauma Recovery
Multidimensional Mastery
Dream Coding System
Chronic Nightmares

Article Type

Research Article

Journal

Dreaming

Research Impact Tools

DOI

10.1037/1053-0797.14.4.195

Issue

Volume : 14 | Issue : 4 | Page No : 95–206

Published On

March, 2004

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Abstract

Exposure, abreaction, and mastery have been proposed as the therapeutic processes of nightmare (NM) reduction. Imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) effectively reduces NMs but involves minimal exposure and abreaction. The authors investigated the use of mastery in the scripting of new dreams (NDs) elaborated during IRT. NM and ND reports were collected from 44 female sexual assault survivors with chronic NMs during their initial application of IRT. Mastery was assessed with a standardized dream coding system and a multidimensional mastery scale. NDs contained significantly fewer negative elements and more occurrences of positive elements and mastery than did NMs. NDs were not devoid of negative dream elements. An increase in mastery over negative dream elements is a core process involved in NM reduction.