A collaboration between UNC School of Medicine and University of California-San Francisco will examine how improving sleep might reduce PTSD side-effects.
Post-traumatic stress is common among both civilian trauma survivors and service men and women who experience severe traumatic stress. Currently, few effective early interventions exist to prevent post-traumatic stress and related outcomes.
Starting in May, the UNC School of Medicine Institute for Trauma Recovery will collaborate with the AURORA Network and top sleep experts from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to conduct a clinical trial to test a sleep intervention to reduce post-traumatic stress and improve recovery among individuals experiencing a common severe traumatic stress among civilians, motor vehicle collision. The trial is funded by the Heart and Armor Foundation, which was founded by the musician John Mayer.
“Sleep problems are an important risk factor for post-traumatic stress and other adverse health problems,” said UNC School of Medicine’s Samuel McLean, MD, AURORA Network lead and professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Emergency Medicine. “For example, recent evidence demonstrates that 40 percent of individuals who come to the emergency department for care after motor vehicle collision suffer from substantial sleep problems in the weeks after the crash. Individuals with such sleep problems are at greatly increased risk of developing substantial post-traumatic stress symptoms.”
In the clinical trial, sleep experts at UCSF will apply a four-session intervention that has been demonstrated to be effective in individuals with established post-traumatic stress but never in people who are in the early aftermath of trauma.
“Improving sleep is a powerful way to engage the body’s own natural recovery mechanisms, helping the body to transition to recovery,” said Thomas Neylan, MD, professor of psychiatry at UCSF.
The new study is part of a broader effort at the UNC Institute for Trauma Recovery to develop both medication and non-medication interventions that reduce acute stress symptoms and prevent chronic post-traumatic stress and related disorders.
Media Contact: Brittany Phillips, Communications Specialist, UNC Health | UNC School of Medicine