Trial reportPsychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy2020
The impact of prolonged exposure on sleep and enhancing treatment outcomes with evidence-based sleep interventions: A pilot study.
Trial report in Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Psychotherapeutic, pharmacological and other active interventions from the NICE guideline for post-traumatic stress disorder with sleep disorder: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Psychotherapeutic and pharmacological agents for post-traumatic stress disorder with sleep disorder: network meta-analysis.Annals of medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Psychosocial treatments for nightmares in adults and children: a systematic review.BMC psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Treating sleep disturbances in refugees and asylum seekers: results from a randomized controlled pilot trial evaluating the STARS group intervention.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Trial
- The impact of insufficient sleep on dietary choices and physical activity behaviors: evidence from a randomized cross-over trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Based Treatment for Insomnia, Nightmares, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Survivors of Wildfires: Pilot Randomized Feasibility Trial.JMIR human factors · 2025Trial
- Treatment of comorbid sleep disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder in U.S. active duty military personnel: A pilot randomized clinical trial.Journal of traumatic stress · 2023Trial
- Sleep efficiency predicts improvements in fear extinction and PTSD symptoms during prolonged exposure for veterans with comorbid insomnia.Psychiatry research · 2023Trial
- Brief behavioral treatment for insomnia decreases trauma-related nightmare frequency in veterans.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2022Trial
- Examining sleep over time in a randomized control trial comparing two integrated PTSD and alcohol use disorder treatments.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2020Trial
- A Randomized Clinical Trial of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia to Augment Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment in Survivors of Interpersonal Violence.Psychotherapy and psychosomaticsTrial
- Case Report: Prism for PTSD in severe traumatic brain injury with psychiatric comorbidities: two cases.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- The effect and safety of sleep interventions on suicidal thoughts and behavior - A systematic review and meta-analyses.Sleep medicine: X · 2025Review
- Differential Associations Between Sleep Domains and Response to Prolonged Exposure Therapy.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Status of Imagery Rehearsal Therapy and Other Interventions for Nightmare Treatment in PTSD.Current psychiatry reports · 2025Review
- Addressing pandemic-related guilt and shame in U.S. military veterans: A pilot randomized controlled trial of trauma-informed guilt reduction and supportive care therapy.Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy · 2025Article
- An exploratory study of patient preference-based sequential CBT intervention for PTSD, insomnia and nightmares after sexual assault.Cogent mental health · 2025Article
- Comparison of autonomic reactivity to trauma and nightmare imagery: A Pilot Study.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2024Article
- The relationship between sleep disturbances and post-traumatic stress disorder symptomatology in university students.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveInsomnia and nightmares are central features of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, often they are inadequately assessed and ineffectively resolved following gold-standard PTSD treatment. Here we: (a) evaluate effects of prolonged exposure (PE) on subjectively measured sleep and (b) present pilot results of an examination of whether adding sleep interventions (imagery rehearsal therapy [IRT] and cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia [CBT-I]) to PE improves treatment response, relative to PE alone, for night- and/or daytime PTSD symptoms among returning U.S. veterans and postdeployment personnel.
methodIn a parallel-groups, randomized controlled trial, participants received 12 sessions of PE followed by IRT (5 weeks) and CBT-I (7 weeks) or PE followed by 12 weeks supportive care therapy (SCT).
resultsPE did not improve sleep to a clinically meaningful degree, despite significant improvements in both Clinical Administered PTSD Scale and PTSD Checklist. Enhancing treatment with IRT/CBT-I led to greater improvements in insomnia (diary-recorded sleep efficiency) symptoms with large effect size, relative to SCT (
conclusionThe addition of targeted, validated sleep treatment improves effects of PE and improves nighttime symptoms. Thus, evidence-based sleep treatment should be considered in comprehensive PTSD treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.