Research delves into causes of nightmares that shadow female survivors
of sexual trauma

Date:
June 15, 2020
Source:
University of Kansas
Summary:
A new study attempts to shed light on triggers of post-trauma
nightmare occurrences -- a topic that has received scant study.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
It's been estimated that up to 88% of survivors of rape or molestation
suffer from persistent nightmares that can occur multiple times per week, seemingly at random.


==========================================================================
A new study from psychologists at the University of Kansas just published
in the Journal of Traumatic Stress attempts to shed light on triggers
of post- trauma nightmare occurrences -- a topic that has received
scant study.

The research is the first to show that having difficulty getting to sleep, along with thinking about the trauma or other negative events prior to
sleep, could boost the odds of a post-trauma nightmare occurrence.

"We found both 'sleep latency,' or the time it takes someone to fall
asleep, and 'pre-sleep cognitive arousal,' or worrying or ruminating
prior to going to bed, were the two significant predictors of a nightmare occurring," said lead author Westley Youngren, a doctoral student in
clinical psychology at KU.

In the study, Youngren and co-authors Nancy Hamilton, KU associate
professor of clinical psychology, and Kristopher Preacher of Vanderbilt University, recruited 27 female college students who reported frequent nightmares tied to sexual trauma. In addition to interviews and
questionnaires to assess general depression and anxiety-related symptoms,
these participants were asked to complete pre- and post-sleep diaries
for six days.

"If someone took 60 or 90 minutes to fall asleep and during that time they
were worrying or thinking about the trauma, they were then most likely
to have a nightmare," Youngren said. "It tended to be the interaction
of the two that predicted the occurrence of a nightmare. It's really
priming the mind to have dream content of the trauma, which is then
going to result in a nightmare." Youngren said he hoped the findings
could be used in a clinical setting to help survivors of sexual trauma
reduce or avoid nightmares.



========================================================================== "Recurrent nightmares are pretty frequent in trauma survivors, and
they're distressing -- often manifesting as nightmares of the exact same
event that happened," he said. "If an individual is raped, they can have nightmares of being assaulted again, much the way people who have been
in combat have nightmares of combat again." Post-traumatic nightmares
are linked to insomnia and can occur simultaneously with depression,
anxiety, cardiovascular risk factors, alcohol abuse, suicidal ideations
and suicide attempts.

Currently, interventions include prescribing a heart rate medication
called Prazosin and a therapeutic technique where a survivor "re-scripts" nightmares to prime themselves into dreaming differently. Youngren said
a more specific grasp of what triggers nightmare occurrences could lead
to more effective treatments.

"Re-scripting based therapy does have more effects than using the
Prazosin, but it's still not as high as other kinds of treatment options
for other psychological disorders," Youngren said.

Youngren's research interest in traumatic nightmares stems from his time
as a U.S. Marine.

"While in the military, I was kind of like, 'All right, well, I want to
get a job where I can sleep all the time.' Because I wasn't sleeping
at all in the military. So, I wanted to do sleep research. I did my undergraduate education at the University of Tulsa with a creator of
one of the nightmare treatments. I started working with her and getting involved in trauma work -- and really saw nightmares were the perfect combination of sleep research and trauma work. So, I really fell into
that and sought out a graduate experience where I could investigate these post-traumatic nightmares, which brought me to KU." Youngren plans to
earn his doctorate by 2022 and hopes to make a career out of research
into post-traumatic nightmares.

"Currently, we just got a research grant from American Psychological Association's Division 19 -- their military psychology unit -- in order
to continue the kind of study we've just published," he said. "We're going
to make it bigger and use physiological monitors as the second step."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Kansas. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Westley A. Youngren, Nancy A. Hamilton, Kris j. Preacher. Assessing
Triggers of Posttrauma Nightmares. Journal of Traumatic Stress,
2020; DOI: 10.1002/jts.22532 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200615140848.htm

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