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The Two O'clock Terrors
It is the middle of the night and you, along with many other people have awakened with anxiety flooding your body and mind. For some people, there is no apparent reason for this, and yet going back to sleep with adrenaline causing alertness can result in serious sleep deprivation. For other people there are clear reasons causing the anxiety; serious stressors and fears which make sleep impossible.
People who suffer from these phenomena can experience a greatly diminished quality of life, often believing that they are the only ones with this serious problem. Recently, a client who was waking up at two each night was having some Eye Movement Deseitization & Re-Processing (EMDR) done, and he had no idea how common this terrible problem can be. He was shocked to learn that it is one of the most common symptoms suffered by people with depression, anxiety, life stressors, grief and PTSD. His case seemed to be brought on by the recent breakup of his marriage, but it can be brought on by not just a current life crisis, but also by events in the past or even in childhood.
What causes this to happen? There is a school of thought based on some biochemical evidence that there is an evolutionary component to this. This theory says that in the caveman era sleep was naturally segmented into a first sleep and a second sleep, with the intervening period of wakefulness allowing for watchfulness and tending to group needs. Anyone who has raised an infant can well imagine this when thinking of the two o'clock feeding.
But there is another component to this problem. When there is great stress or grief in the present or recent past there seems to be a tendency for the brain to take advantage of this uptick in the sleep cycle to cause a startle response. And in some cases this causes feelings of true terror. Glasses of warm milk, reading, walking around the house fail to bring back the lovely warmth of sleepiness. What can be done?
In cases where there is a current stressor or grief then the first step is to gather support. This may be talking honestly with a friend or clergy, or seeking a psychotherapist. Struggling alone in times of need is guaranteed to make the problem worse. All people have times of need and there is no need to go through it alone. It has been said that by sharing our problem, our share is reduced in size, and that is true. If this is not enough then it may be time to get help from a physician. Often a short course of the right medication can be effective; giving relief from the sleep deprivation and helping to move us through and past the problem.
If there is true trauma causing sleep problems then treating the trauma itself is needed. There are two kinds of trauma
Simple trauma, where one or a cluster of traumatic events is so terrible that the brain refuses to process the information, basically saying, “NO! This is too awful, I can't accept this”.
Complex trauma, results from living in a frightening and unsafe environment for an extended period of time, usually in infancy or childhood when one is extremely vulnerable. Here the brain is constantly flooded with adrenaline resulting in a state of chronic or even permanent hyper-vigilance and setting the stage for sleep problems throughout life.
Thankfully we now have treatments for healing traumas, and the healing of trauma can lead to enhanced sleep. Always remember that you are not alone.
