SLEEPJMay 8, 2026James R. Hall, Mercy Azubuko-Uduh, Naomi Ghildiyal et al.
Abstract Introduction Nightmares are usually associated with insomnia but rarely can arise from distinct and overlapping etiologies that can result in hypersomnia. The etiologies that need to be considered would be PTSD, acute stress disorder, nightmare disorder, depression, anxiety, medication/substance effect, narcolepsy, Idiopathic Hypersomnia. Rare causes are intracranial mass lesion, CNS...
Rates of mental illness in young people are increasing, whereas the development of novel mental health treatments has not significantly progressed. Psychedelic-assisted therapy, using substances such as psilocybin and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), has shown potential in the treatment of mental illnesses in the adult population, including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress...
BACKGROUND: Over the past decade, neuropsychopharmacology has shifted from stagnation to momentum, with first-in-class mechanisms and biomarker-enabled trials spanning psychiatry and neurology. METHODS: We narratively synthesized advances from 2013 to 2026 across central nervous system (CNS) discovery and development, including pivotal trials, regulatory actions, digital/real-world evidence,...
Nightmares are considered a hallmark symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A risk factor for nightmares may be sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), a constellation of traits involving increased responsivity to sensory stimulation and emotion, and deeper cognitive processing. Here we tested whether this relationship between SPS and nightmares mainly occurs when stress or trauma are...
The Hospital Mental Health Risk Screen (HMHRS) predicts risk for negative outcomes following acute trauma, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Insomnia and nightmares are common reactions to acute trauma and are considered modifiable risk factors for the development of PTSD. The HMHRS may be useful for detecting risk for post-trauma insomnia and nightmares, however, no studies have...
Bipolar-spectrum illness emerging after traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be difficult to treat and may present with mixed or agitated depressive features that appear sensitive to glutamatergic modulation. In post-TBI cases, diagnostic certainty is often limited because irritability, impulsivity, sleep disturbance, affective lability, and cognitive change may overlap with frontal-limbic injury...
Trauma exposure is a known risk for sleep disruption from both nightmares and insomnia. Informed by recent research proposing specific mechanisms linking trauma to sleep disruption and between nightmares and insomnia, (Werner et al. 2021), we tested a model in which the relationship between nightmares and insomnia was mediated by fear of sleep. Study participants were college-aged women (N=497;...
STUDY OBJECTIVES This study evaluated the effectiveness of a group intervention combining cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) and imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) for nightmares, delivered to current and former military and law-enforcement personnel with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at an outpatient operational stress injury clinic. This study further investigated the...
Both heightened nightmare (NM) distress, intense negative emotional reactions to nightmares, and low dream self-efficacy (DSE; the perceived ability to manage or influence dream experiences), are understudied contributors to posttraumatic functioning. Individuals with lower DSE shows increased suicide risk in trauma survivors and may increase emotional disturbances during sleep, while NM...
PsychedelicsMay 1, 2026Madeleine Cluck, Alison B. Purcell, Zuzana Kazan et al.
There is currently an ongoing resurgence in research on the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for psychiatric conditions. Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) differs from most current forms of psychiatric treatment in two primary domains: its requirement for fewer doses (often just one), and its documented ability to promote profound insights, introspection, and cognitive shifts. Autism...