Post-traumatic stress disorder and sleep-what a nightmare!

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Sleep Medicine
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Sleep disturbances are integral to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnostic criteria.
• Symptoms include re-experiencing phenomena (nightmares) and hyperarousal (insomnia).
• Subjective complaints are common, but objective sleep study findings in PTSD are inconsistent.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent studies addressing the inconsistencies in objective sleep findings in PTSD.
• To explore the specific role of REM sleep abnormalities in PTSD pathophysiology.
• To differentiate sleep disturbances caused by PTSD versus comorbid disorders.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent scientific literature on sleep disturbances and PTSD.
• Analysis of studies examining objective sleep parameters in PTSD patients.
• Consideration of the impact of comorbid psychiatric disorders on sleep.

Main Results:

• Sleep laboratory studies show varied results regarding sleep architecture and patterns in PTSD.
• REM sleep changes are suggested in PTSD pathophysiology, but findings on REM latency and percentage are inconsistent.
• Comorbid conditions may contribute to the variability in sleep findings among PTSD patients.

Conclusions:

• The specific contribution of traumatic stress to chronic sleep disturbances in PTSD remains uncertain.
• High variability in REM sleep parameters across patients may be due to comorbid disorders.
• Further research controlling for comorbidities is needed to clarify the role of sleep abnormalities in PTSD.