Assessing the Role of Sleep in the Regulation of Emotion in PTSD

Sleep disturbances such as trouble falling and staying asleep and recurrent trauma nightmares are common symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although initially considered only to be a symptom of PTSD; evidence that sleep disturbance plays a critical role in the development and persistence of this disorder is accruing. In the present chapter, key literature on sleep in PTSD, methodological factors that need to be considered when planning sleep studies with PTSD populations, and psychophysiological variables closely associated with sleep in PTSD are reviewed. This is followed by a description of both traditional and novel methods for assessing sleep and sleep-associated phenomena (e.g., traditional and quantitative polysomnography, actigraphy, subjective sleep and dream measures, fear conditioning and extinction, and brain imaging during sleep) as well as a discussion of the unique methodological challenges associated with studying sleep in PTSD.