Research seeking to establish the relationship between sleep and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is in its infancy. An empirically supported theory of the relationship is yet to emerge. The aims of the present paper are threefold: to summarise the literature on the prevalence and treatment of sleep disturbance characteristic of acute stress disorder (ASD) and PTSD, to critically review this literature, and to draw together the disparate theoretical perspectives that have been proposed to account for the empirical findings. After a brief overview of normal human sleep, the literature specifying the relation between sleep disturbance and PTSD is summarized. This includes studies of the prevalence of sleep disturbance and nightmares, content of nightmares, abnormalities in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, arousal threshold during sleep, body movement during sleep, and breathing-related sleep disorders. In addition, studies of the treatment of sleep disturbance in individuals with PTSD are reviewed. We conclude that the role of sleep in PTSD is complex, but that it is an important area for further elucidating the nature and treatment of PTSD. Areas for future research are specified. In particular, a priority is to improve the methodology of the research conducted.

中文翻译：

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睡眠和创伤后应激障碍：综述。

试图建立睡眠与创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）之间关系的研究尚处于婴儿期。这种关系的经验支持理论尚未出现。本文的目的是三方面的：总结关于急性应激障碍（ASD）和PTSD的睡眠障碍特征的发生率和治疗的文献，对文献进行严格审查，并汇总提出的不同理论观点。解释经验结果。在简短地概述了正常人的睡眠之后，总结了说明睡眠障碍与PTSD之间关系的文献。这包括对睡眠障碍和噩梦的患病率，噩梦的内容，快速眼动（REM）睡眠异常，睡眠过程中的唤醒阈值，睡眠期间身体运动以及与呼吸有关的睡眠障碍。另外，综述了治疗PTSD患者睡眠障碍的研究。我们得出结论，睡眠在PTSD中的作用很复杂，但是它是进一步阐明PTSD的性质和治疗的重要领域。指定了未来研究的领域。特别是，优先事项是改进所进行研究的方法。