Implications of language use in posttraumatic nightmares on psychological symptoms.

Abstract

Objective: The current study sought to understand how language use in posttrauma nightmare (PTNM) reports may be related to psychological symptoms over the course of treatment. Method: Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between language use in PTNMs and psychological symptoms. Specifically, cognitive processing words (CPW) and emotional tone (ET) measured in PTNMs were analyzed in their relationship to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptom severity, as well as nightmare frequency and distress measured at the midtreatment and last treatment sessions. Follow-up hierarchical regressions were used to assess the relationship of language to nightmare severity when controlling for both PTSD and depression severity. The sample consisted of treatment-seeking predominately Caucasian females from the community with a history of criterion A trauma and weekly nightmares. Results: CPW in the nightmare were negatively associated with PTSD and depression symptom severity, as well as nightmare frequency, at the time of the exposure session. Decreased CPW and negative ET within the nightmare remained significantly associated with nightmare frequency at the time of the exposure session, when controlling for PTSD and depression symptom severity. CPW in the rescripted PTNM were negatively associated with PTSD and depression symptom severity at the time of the last treatment session. Conclusions: These results suggest that language use in nightmares may reveal important information about underlying cognitive and emotional processes that may help understand the etiology and maintenance of PTSD symptoms, as well as support PTNMs as co-occurring symptoms requiring targeted treatment, and not merely secondary symptoms of PTSD.

Does Nightmare Rescription Lead to Meaningful Changes in Language Use? An Investigation within a Treatment Seeking Sample with Chronic Post-Trauma Nightmares

“…As ERRT is known to be effective in reducing the distress and frequency of nightmares, as well as the severity of PTSD, depression, and improving sleep quality (Davis & Wright, 2007), it is possible that these treatment outcomes may be related to the measurement of language in the rescription. Indeed, such research has recently been conducted and is currently undergoing review (Paquet et al, in press). A preliminary study found that language use related to cognitive processing words within nightmares was significantly correlated to PTSD and nightmare symptoms (Paquet et al, 2020b).…”

Implications of cognitive‐oriented language within posttrauma nightmare narratives

“…In the current study, those who endorsed a higher severity of negative post‐trauma cognitions about the world at baseline had nightmare narratives that reflected higher levels of analytical thinking. It is difficult to understand why a greater degree of analytical thinking in PTNM is associated with more maladaptive post‐trauma cognitions, as previous studies found significantly lower levels of analytical thinking in PTNM relative to dreams in a nonclinical sample (Paquet et al, 2020a, 2022; Pennebaker et al, 2015). Theoretically, that would mean that a significantly more severe form of disturbed dreaming is associated with lower levels of analytical thinking.…”