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6: Military Sexual Trauma and Treatment of Sleep Disorders and Nightmares

DOI:

10.1891/9780826127792.0006

Authors

  • Capehart, Bruce
  • DeViva, Jason

Abstract

Suris, Lind, Kashner, and Borman surveyed 89 female participants who reported a history of military sexual trauma (MST) and reported that “all of the respondents endorsed some amount of sleep difficulty”. Woods, Hall, Campbell, and Angott examined relationships among interpersonal violence, posttraumatic stress, and physical symptoms in a sample of women and found that different types of sleep complaints were among the most frequently reported problems and that they were significantly correlated with having experienced sexual violence. Traditionally, insomnia has been associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and every version of the diagnostic criteria for PTSD contains some version of disturbed sleep. This chapter recommends a thorough assessment of medical and psychological comorbidity as well as trauma history to identify factors that may affect sleep. Chronic pain should be reviewed with the patient’s primary care physician for possible medication changes that can alleviate pain and improve sleep.