TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2020//
TI  - Pre-sleep arousal and fear of sleep in trauma-related sleep disturbances: a cluster-analytic approach
JO  - Clinical psychology in Europe
A1  - Werner, Gabriela G.
A1  - Danböck, Sarah K.
A1  - Metodiev, Stanislav
A1  - Kunze, Anna E.
SP  - e2699
EP  - e2699
VL  - 2
IS  - 2
N2  - BACKGROUND: Trauma-related sleep disturbances constitute critical symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but sleep symptoms often reside even after successful trauma-focused psychotherapy. Therefore, currently unattended factors - like fear of sleep (FoS) - might play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of residual sleep disturbances. However, it is unclear whether trauma-exposed individuals exhibit different symptomatic profiles of sleep disturbances that could inform individualized therapeutic approaches and eventually enhance treatment efficacy. <br><br>METHOD: In a large online study, a two-step cluster analysis and a hierarchical cluster analysis using Ward's method were performed to explore subgroups among trauma-exposed individuals (N = 471) in terms of FoS, different aspects of trauma-related sleep disturbances (e.g., insomnia symptoms, nightmares, arousal), and PTSD symptoms. These variables were compared between resulting clusters using ANOVAs and Scheffé's post-hoc tests. <br><br>RESULTS: The hierarchical cluster analysis supported 3- and 4-cluster solutions. The 3-cluster solution consisted of one "healthy" (n = 199), one "subclinical" (n = 223), and one "clinical" (n = 49) cluster, with overall low, medium, and high symptomatology on all used variables. In the 4-cluster solution, the clinical cluster was further divided into two subgroups (n = 38, n = 11), where one cluster was specifically characterized by elevated somatic pre-sleep arousal and high levels of FoS. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: A subgroup of trauma-exposed individuals with PTSD and sleep disturbances suffers from increased pre-sleep arousal and FoS, which has been suggested as one possible explanation for residual sleep disturbances. In these patients, FoS might be a relevant treatment target.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2625-3410
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.32872/cpe.v2i2.2699
ID  - ref1
ER  -