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Although nightmares are one of the more disturbing and persistent features of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), few studies have addressed why nightmares occur on specific nights. Researchers obtained data on 27 college-aged women who had suffered a sexual trauma (i.e., self-reported sexual violence) and were experiencing trauma-related nightmares (13 recruited in classrooms, 14 clinical referrals; 59% white; mean age, 20); 93% met PTSD criteria.
Participants were assessed with scales measuring PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Then, over 6 days, they rated, before and after sleep, reminiscent stimuli, non-nightmare intrusion symptoms, presleep arousal, sleep quality, nightmares and dreams, and fatigue. The group reported a total of 30 nig…