The psychophysiology of PTSD nightmares

Abstract

Trauma-related nightmares distinguish posttraumatic stress disorder from related mood and anxiety disorders and promise a privileged view into its pathophysiology. This promise has been unkept, in part, because nightmares are rarely observed in the sleep laboratory and represent, at best, a free-recall exercise in which the original stimulus is unknown to the experimenter. We discuss below our efforts to learn more about trauma-related nightmares using laboratory and ambulatory polysomnography. These and other results are next integrated into a broader perspective on the possible interaction of sleep and fear systems. Finally, we consider the important findings of Cano, Mochizuki, and Saper and their implications for future work in this area.