Recovery Michigan

Sleep disturbances are some of the most commonly reported psychiatric complaints by combat veterans. Hundreds of thousands struggle regularly with insomnia, both falling and staying asleep, and nightmares.

A relatively new therapy called Exposure, Relaxation, and Rescription Therapy is proving to be effective for these sleep problems.

ERRT has almost exclusively been studied in civilian groups. The results have been strong. Recognizing the need for effective treatments in veterans, researchers modified the treatment specifically for this group. Results from this modified version of ERRT with veterans are promising.

For four weeks, 19 veterans were provided once weekly sessions. The sessions included a mix of education about insomnia and nightmares, techniques for learning to sleep better, intentional exposure to content of the nightmare, and "rewriting" and rehearsing the new dream.

After only one week, some veterans saw a reduction in the number of nightmares they experienced as well as the intensity of their dreams. They also saw an increase in overall sleep quality and a drop in the severity of their insomnia. Surprisingly, those who were depressed saw improvement in mood. This may be related to the fact that poor sleep and nightmares are directly tied to depression. The good news is that the results were not temporary. Improvements continued up to two months after treatment ended.