University of Colorado-Boulder; Vanderbilt University.
Vanderbilt University.
Behav Ther. 2023 Sep;54(5):863-875. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2023.03.005. Epub 2023 Mar 29.
Prior work implicates sleep disturbance in the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the majority of this literature has focused on combat veteran men, and limited work has examined links between sleep disturbance and PTSD symptoms in sexual assault survivors. This is a notable gap in the literature, as sexual trauma is disproportionately likely to result in PTSD and is more common in women. We sought to examine the relations between subjective sleep disturbance, sexual assault severity, and PTSD symptoms in a sample of sexual assault survivors with PTSD (PTSD+), without PTSD (PTSD-), and healthy controls. The sample (N = 60) completed the Insomnia Severity Index and prospectively monitored their sleep for 1 week using the Consensus Sleep Diary. The sexual assault survivors also completed the Sexual Experiences Survey and PTSD Checklist-5. Results of group comparisons found that the PTSD+ group reported significantly higher insomnia symptoms, longer sleep onset latency, more nocturnal awakenings, and lower sleep quality compared to the healthy control group and higher insomnia symptoms compared to the PTSD- group. Results of regression analyses in the sexual assault survivors found that insomnia symptoms and number of nocturnal awakenings were significantly associated with higher PTSD symptoms, and sexual assault severity was significantly associated with higher insomnia symptoms, longer sleep onset latency, and lower sleep quality. These findings highlight specific features of sleep disturbance that are linked to trauma and PTSD symptom severity among sexual assault survivors.
先前的研究表明睡眠障碍与创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的发展和维持有关。然而，这方面的大多数文献都集中在男性退伍军人身上，有限的研究调查了睡眠障碍与性侵犯幸存者 PTSD 症状之间的联系。这是文献中的一个显著空白，因为性创伤更有可能导致 PTSD，而且在女性中更为常见。我们试图在一组 PTSD 阳性（PTSD+）、无 PTSD（PTSD-）和健康对照组的性侵犯幸存者中研究主观睡眠障碍、性侵犯严重程度和 PTSD 症状之间的关系。该样本（N=60）完成了失眠严重程度指数，并使用共识睡眠日记前瞻性地监测了他们一周的睡眠情况。性侵犯幸存者还完成了性经历调查和 PTSD 检查表-5。组间比较的结果发现，PTSD+组报告的失眠症状明显高于健康对照组，睡眠潜伏期更长，夜间醒来次数更多，睡眠质量更低，与 PTSD-组相比，失眠症状也更高。性侵犯幸存者的回归分析结果表明，失眠症状和夜间醒来次数与 PTSD 症状严重程度显著相关，性侵犯严重程度与失眠症状、更长的睡眠潜伏期和更低的睡眠质量显著相关。这些发现强调了与性侵犯幸存者的创伤和 PTSD 症状严重程度相关的特定睡眠障碍特征。
