The neuropharmacology of nightmares

Abstract

The study of the neuropharmacology of dreaming and nightmares is an area of neuroscience in its infancy. Dreaming and nightmares are an area of study replete with grand theories and a paucity of actual data. Evidence from neuropathology studies, generalized CNS drug effects and side effects, electro physiology and CNS neuroimaging studies is beginning to be applied to this area of study. Initial findings suggest a complex neurochemical system in which neuropharmacological agents that affect REM sleep differ from those that affect dreaming.