Sleep disturbance and intrusive memories after presenting to the emergency department following a traumatic motor vehicle accident: an exploratory analysis

• Published in: European journal of psychotraumatology Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 1556550
• Main Authors: Luik, Annemarie I., Iyadurai, Lalitha, Gebhardt, Isabel, Holmes, Emily A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis 01.01.2019; Taylor & Francis Ltd; Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: and whether a brief behavioural intervention targeting intrusive memories (trauma reminder cue and Tetris gameplay) affected sleep post-trauma.• More intrusive memories post-trauma are potentially related to a greater severity of sleep disturbances.• The intervention had mixed effects on the experience of sleep disturbances.• Sleep disturbance might be a particularly important construct to assess in studies involving intrusive memories post-trauma; early intervention; intervención temprana; Intrusive memories; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Other; Post traumatic stress disorder; posttraumatic stress disorder; recuerdos intrusivos; Short Communication; Sleep; Sleep disturbances are common after trauma.• We assessed the association between intrusive memories and sleep; sueño; Traffic accidents & safety; trastorno de estrés postraumático; Trauma; Vehicles; 闯入记忆，创伤，创伤后应激障碍，睡眠，早期干预; sleep; trauma; Intrusive memories; early intervention; Sleep disturbances are common after trauma.• We assessed the association between intrusive memories and sleep, and whether a brief behavioural intervention targeting intrusive memories (trauma reminder cue and Tetris gameplay) affected sleep post-trauma.• More intrusive memories post-trauma are potentially related to a greater severity of sleep disturbances.• The intervention had mixed effects on the experience of sleep disturbances.• Sleep disturbance might be a particularly important construct to assess in studies involving intrusive memories post-trauma; posttraumatic stress disorder
• ISSN: 2000-8066; 2000-8198; 2000-8066
• DOI: 10.1080/20008198.2018.1556550

Background: Sleep disturbances are common after traumatic events and have been hypothesized to be a risk factor in the development of psychopathology such as that associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Objective: To assess the association between intrusive memories, a core clinical feature of PTSD, and self-reported sleep disturbance shortly after experiencing or witnessing a motor vehicle accident, and whether a brief behavioural intervention (trauma reminder cue and Tetris gameplay) reduced sleep disturbance post-trauma. Method: The exploratory analyses included 71 participants (mean age 39.66, standard deviation 16.32; 37 women, 52.1%) enrolled in a previously published proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial. Participants were recruited from the emergency department after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic motor vehicle accident. Intrusive memories were assessed with a daily paper-and-pen diary for one week post-trauma, and sleep disturbances with three questions from the Impact of Event Scale-Revised assessing problems initiating sleep, problems maintaining sleep and dreams about the event at one week and one month post-trauma. Missing data were imputed 15 times. Results: The total number of intrusive memories during the first week post-trauma suggested weak to moderate pooled intercorrelations with problems initiating and maintaining sleep. An ordinal regression using imputed data suggested that the intervention had no effect on sleep disturbances, while completers only analyses suggested an improvement in problems maintaining sleep at one week. Conclusions: This exploratory study suggested that experiencing early intrusive memories is related to sleep disturbances. Sleep disturbance might be a particularly important construct to assess in studies involving intrusive memories post-trauma. * Sleep disturbances are common after trauma.* We assessed the association between intrusive memories and sleep, and whether a brief behavioural intervention targeting intrusive memories (trauma reminder cue and Tetris gameplay) affected sleep post-trauma.* More intrusive memories post-trauma are potentially related to a greater severity of sleep disturbances.* The intervention had mixed effects on the experience of sleep disturbances.* Sleep disturbance might be a particularly important construct to assess in studies involving intrusive memories post-trauma.