Dr. Matthew Walker

One is that it's simply the system failing, the system gone wrong, and we're not processing, we're not moving through things, and therefore nightmares are maladaptive.

They're not warranted.

They're not normative.

The other is that, no, they are adaptive and they are meaningful.

And it's us really trying to go to a very specific pain point.

And we continue to process it over and over, perhaps to the point where we get resolution.

But sometimes we just don't.

So it keeps cropping up.

We don't have good data to disambiguate those two right now.

So I think it still remains open.

At least I don't know of any data that tells me, are they functional or are they maladaptive?

Even when we get that answer, in some ways, it doesn't change the fact that it still leaves a patient with nightmares, with recurring nightmares.

So then what do you do about that?

Is there any treatment for people out there if they're under this distress?

Is there hope?

And for a long time, there really wasn't very much hope at all.

You just had to go through it.

But recently there was a method that was developed

And it's very effective.

And it is called IRT, which stands for Image Rehearsal Therapy.