We know what you might be feeling. Fear. Anxiety. Sadness. Anger. We know nightmares can be very real, very disturbing. They can leave you so deprived of sleep that you can’t think straight. You can’t function normally in your family and society. You know it’s taking a terrible toll on your life.^21,22,23 All you want is…sleep.

Yet you’re afraid to go to sleep because that’s when nightmares strike. Perhaps you find ways to become extremely tired before going to bed. But it doesn’t help. You still can’t get high-quality sleep, which can impact your physical and mental health.

If you live with a loved one, we also know how they might be feeling: helpless and filled with despair. The one they care so much about—you—feels less and less like the person they once knew. They remember when the words irrational, paranoid, or irritable (or worse) were never how they would describe you. Their sleep may be severely disrupted because you can’t sleep through the night. If it’s driving a wedge between you and your loved one, you’re not alone. But it doesn’t have to be that way.