Sleep, dreams, PTSD, and EMDR:  Who's causing what?

PTSD is accompanied by disturbance of sleep that may contribute to a positive feedback loop which maintains the PTSD condition. Experimental data will be presented in support of a model of off-line memory reprocessing in which traumatic memories are seen to be normally processed during sleep so as to finally eliminate both the intrusive nature of the memories and the heightened emotions associated with them. Participatns will be shown how sleep onset, non-REM and REM sleep may each contribute to this process, and how EMDR might activate this process in individuals for whom the normal sleep processing has broken down.

Conference

English

Robert Stickgold

Stickgold, R. (2001, June). Sleep, dreams, PTSD, and EMDR: Who's causing what? Presentation at the 6th EMDR International Association Conference, Austin, TX