Venlafaxine and Vivid Dreaming

Letter to the Editor

Sir: Dreams and nightmares most often occur during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Venlafaxine is a serotoninnorepinephrine reuptake inhibitor whose serotonergic activity produces a dose-related suppression of REM sleep and would therefore be expected to reduce or suppress dream activity. In contrast to this expectation, we report the appearance of especially vivid nightmares after introduction of venlafaxine.