A group of U.S. Army researchers recently proposed a new diagnosis for sleep disorders related to trauma, according to a Stars and Stripes report. Trauma-associated sleep disorder (TSD) includes disruptive sleep behaviors such as screaming, thrashing, sleepwalking and nightmares.
Physicians saw an increase in sleep disturbance among soldiers following combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the report. Initial research into TSD took place at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash. Study participants included military personnel who had experienced combat trauma or emotional trauma.
According to Vincent Mysliwiec, MD, principal investigator, trauma-related sleep problems differ in key ways from sleep disorders linked to degenerative brain diseases. Mysliwiec believes TSD is “an overdrive phenomenon” related to the sympathetic nervous system, Stars and Stripes reports. He estimates that 10% to 15% of trauma survivors experience TSD.
Mysliwiec and colleagues published their TSD findings in a recent paper in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. Symptoms in the study group included combative sleep behaviors that injured bed partners. “Nightmares were replays of the patient’s traumatic experiences,” according to the paper. “Prazosin improved DNB [disruptive nocturnal behaviors]and nightmares in all patients.”