SLEEP AND DREAMS IN VIETNAM PTSD AND DEPRESSION

The present study compares the sleep and dreams of three groups of sub jects: I) Vietnam veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a nd major depression, 2) veterans with depression alone, and 3) veteran s with neither PTSD nor depression (i.e., normal controls), Sleep reco rdings indicate only one significant difference between the PTSD/depre ssed and depressed alone groups: sleep latency was prolonged in the de pressed alone patients compared with the other two groups, The two pat ient groups differed from controls in the manner already reported for depressed patients (decreased REM latency, increased REM density, redu ced total sleep time, reduced sleep efficiency), with some of the diff erences significant only at the trend level. Dreams were obtained from REM awakenings. Dream recall rare and report length did not differ be tween groups, Mean anxiety level in dreams was less than 1 (mild) for all three groups, with major depression patients scoring significantly higher than controls. Dreams of PTSD/depressed patients were signific antly less likely to be set in the present than dreams of the other tw o groups.