Nightmares. Sleep Disorders and How We Live with Them in Reality

Alice Vernon, author of the book "Nightmares", finds strangers in her bedroom several times a week upon waking. She has been haunted by ominous hallucinations, frightening dreams, and episodes of sleepwalking since childhood. It is not surprising that sleep disorders — parasomnias — and their representation in culture have become the subject of her scientific research. She explores how throughout history these disorders have been interpreted and attempted to be treated, how stories about them have led to stigmatization, have immortalized moments in history, have formed the basis of captivating books and film scripts, and have been used in therapeutic practice. Traveling through the labyrinths of nightmares, you will learn about the trials of the "Salem witches", sleep paralysis, Victorian stories of somnambulists, and the phenomenon of lucid dreaming.