Diseases

Night Terrors

A disorder characterized by incomplete arousals from sleep associated with behavior suggesting extreme fright. This condition primarily affects children and young adults and the individual generally has no recall of the event. Episodes tend to occur during stage III or IV. SOMNAMBULISM is frequently associated with this condition. (Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p391)

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

A disorder characterized by incomplete arousals from sleep associated with behavior suggesting extreme fright. This condition primarily affects children and young adults and the individual generally has no recall of the event. Episodes tend to occur during stage III or IV. SOMNAMBULISM is frequently associated with this condition. (Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p391)

MeSH Record

Classification

Broader headings

Related Concepts

Knowledge Graph

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MeSH Record

Synonyms

36 entry terms
  • Pavor Nocturnus
  • Sleep Terror Disorder
  • Sleep Terrors
  • Sleep Terror
  • Terror, Sleep
  • Terrors, Sleep
  • Night Terrors, Adult
  • Night Terrors, Childhood
  • Night Terrors, Primary
  • Night Terrors, Secondary
  • Pavor Nocturnus, Adult
  • Pavor Nocturnus, Childhood
  • Adult Night Terror
  • Adult Night Terrors
  • Adult Pavor Nocturnus
  • Childhood Night Terror
  • Childhood Night Terrors
  • Childhood Pavor Nocturnus
  • Night Terror, Adult
  • Night Terror, Childhood
  • Night Terror, Primary
  • Night Terror, Secondary
  • Nocturnus, Adult Pavor
  • Nocturnus, Childhood Pavor
  • Primary Night Terror
  • Primary Night Terrors
  • Secondary Night Terror
  • Secondary Night Terrors
  • Terror, Adult Night
  • Terror, Childhood Night
  • Terror, Primary Night
  • Terror, Secondary Night
  • Terrors, Adult Night
  • Terrors, Childhood Night
  • Terrors, Primary Night
  • Terrors, Secondary Night

MeSH Record

Aspects Covered

35 allowable subheadings

Indexed with the subheadings blood, cerebrospinal fluid, chemically induced, classification, complications, congenital, diagnosis, diagnostic imaging, diet therapy, drug therapy, economics, embryology, enzymology, epidemiology, ethnology, etiology, genetics, history, immunology, metabolism, microbiology, mortality, nursing, parasitology, pathology, physiopathology, prevention & control, psychology, radiotherapy, rehabilitation, surgery, therapy, urine, veterinary, virology.

MeSH Record

History Note

2000; use SLEEP DISORDERS 1981-1999; for SLEEP TERROR DISORDER use SLEEP DISORDERS 1981-1999

MeSH Record

Previous Indexing

  • Sleep Disorders (1969-1999)

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Numbers

  1. C10w.886.659w.635.600w
  2. F03w.870.664w.635.600w

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Night Terrors. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D020184. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D020184
  2. Night Terrors. In: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_terror
  3. Night Terrors. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q849736