Case Lab · Type B · Developing

F51

Screaming at midnight, gone by morning

A mother describes her 9-year-old son waking abruptly around an hour after falling asleep, sitting up screaming, breathing rapidly, and sweating, but not responding when she speaks to him. The episode lasts about three minutes before he settles back to sleep on his own. The next morning he has no memory of the episode at all and is surprised when told about it. This has happened four times in the past two months, always within the first two hours of falling asleep.