Testing the nightmare cognitive arousal processing model.
Psychological Trauma July 31, 2023 W. Youngren, N. Hamilton, Kristopher J Preacher et al.
Presleep cognitive arousal and longer sleep onset latency predict the occurrence of posttrauma nightmares in male veterans with mixed-trauma history. Physiological presleep arousal was also higher on nights when nightmares occurred. The findings replicate earlier work and suggest that therapies targeting presleep thoughts, time to fall asleep, and physical arousal may help treat posttrauma nightmares, though the small sample of 15 participants warrants cautious interpretation.