Investigation of the impact of total sleep deprivation at home on the number of intrusive memories to an analogue trauma

Kate Porcheret,Katharina Wulff,Dalena Van Heugten–Van Der Kloet,Russell G Foster,Guy M Goodwin,Emily A Holmes

doi:10.1038/s41398-019-0403-z

Abstract

Sleep enhances the consolidation of memory; however, this property of sleep may be detrimental in situations where memories of an event can lead to psychopathology, such as following a traumatic event. Intrusive memories of trauma are emotional memories that spring to mind involuntarily and are a core feature of post-traumatic stress disorder. Total sleep deprivation in a hospital setting on the first night after an analogue trauma (a trauma film) led to fewer intrusive memories compared to sleep as usual in one study. The current study aimed to test an extension of these findings: sleep deprivation under more naturalistic conditions—at home. Polysomnographic recordings show inconsistent sleep deprivation was achieved at home. Fewer intrusive memories were reported on day 1 after the trauma film in the sleep-deprived condition. On day 2 the opposite was found: more intrusive memories in the sleep-deprived condition. However, no significant differences were found with the removal of two participants with extreme values and no difference was found in the total number of intrusive memories reported in the week following the trauma film. Voluntary memory of the trauma film was found to be slightly impaired in the sleep deprivation condition. In conclusion, compared to our eariler findings using total sleep deprivation in a hospital setting, in the current study the use of inconsistent sleep deprivation at home does not replicate the pattern of results on reducing the number of intrusive memories. Considering the conditions under which sleep deprivation (naturalistic versus hospital) was achieved requires further examination.

Highlights

It is commonly believed that a good night’s sleep is the best way to recover from a stressful day, and it is often assumed this will be the case following highly distressing events such as psychological trauma
Intrusive memories can be very distressing, distracting and debilitating, and form a core clinical feature of both acute stress disorder (ASD, when posttraumatic symptomatology occurs in the first month following a trauma1) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, when symptoms persist beyond the first month1)
Participants showed an increase in negative affect after watching the trauma film, which was found not to be statistically different between groups (Change in negative affect: sleep deprived = 13.31 ± 16.19, sleep = 10.91 ± 17.72, analysis of variance (ANOVA): film effect: F = 25.50, P < 0.001, group/film interaction: F = 0.25, P = 0.62)

Summary

Introduction

It is commonly believed that a good night’s sleep is the best way to recover from a stressful day, and it is often assumed this will be the case following highly distressing events such as psychological trauma. Common symptoms after a psychological trauma are intrusive memories of the traumatic event[1]. Intrusive memories can be very distressing, distracting and debilitating, and form a core clinical feature of both acute stress disorder (ASD, when posttraumatic symptomatology occurs in the first month following a trauma1) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, when symptoms persist beyond the first month[1]). Re-experiencing of a trauma in the first days after the event has been suggested to predict the longer-term development of ASD6 and PTSD7,8. A recent study of over 1000 patients following a traumatic injury concluded that ‘intrusive memories and reactivity are centrally associated with other symptoms in the acute phase [of PTSD symptoms], potentially pointing to the utility of Porcheret et al Translational Psychiatry (2019)9:104

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion