Posttraumatic sleep disturbances in veterans: A pilot randomized controlled trial of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and imagery rehearsal therapy.
Journal of Clinical Psychology November 1, 2023 Emina Prguda, Justine Evans, Sarah McLeay et al.
Australian veterans with PTSD, insomnia, and nightmares received either eight sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) alone or CBT-I combined with imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT). Both groups improved on self-reported sleep, nightmare, and psychological measures from baseline to three months after treatment, but there was no evidence that the combined treatment was superior to CBT-I alone. Obstructive sleep apnea risk did not moderate the outcomes. Despite improvements, average scores on sleep measures still indicated poor sleep quality. The findings suggest that both treatments could be optimized for this population.