Treating posttraumatic nightmares in trauma-affected refugees: An investigation of outcome predictors of imagery rehearsal therapy.
Journal of Psychiatric Research January 1, 2026 Ola Hornmoen, Jessica Carlsson, Jesper Dammeyer et al.
Among trauma-affected refugees receiving imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) for nightmares as an add-on to usual treatment, those with more severe symptoms at baseline showed greater improvement in sleep quality, nightmare severity, and PTSD symptoms. High motivation for psychotherapy predicted better sleep quality and PTSD symptom improvement, while lower cognitive functioning was linked to less PTSD symptom improvement, and using an interpreter was associated with less improvement in sleep quality. These findings suggest that low motivation and low cognitive functioning may be modifiable barriers to benefiting from IRT, though the small sample size limits reliability.