Sleepless Night: Examining the Role of Sleep in Suicidal Ideation among Diverse Populations
4 - (Sym 33) Nightmares and Fear of Sleep Following Traumatic Injury and Their Prospective Relationship with Suicidal Ideation
Friday, November 18, 2022
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EST
Location: Shubert/Uris, 6th Floor
Keywords: Suicide, Sleep, Transdiagnostic Recommended Readings: Bernert, R. A., & Joiner, T. E. (2007). Sleep disturbances and suicide risk: a review of the literature. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 3(6), 735-743. Kearns, J. C., Coppersmith, D. D., Santee, A. C., Insel, C., Pigeon, W. R., & Glenn, C. R. (2020). Sleep problems and suicide risk in youth: A systematic review, developmental framework, and implications for hospital treatment. General Hospital Psychiatry, 63, 141-151.
Research suggests developing nightmares after traumatic experiences promotes a fear of sleep that may increase risk of suicidal ideation (SI). Few studies, however, have collected prospective data on nightmares and fear of sleep beginning in the acute aftermath of trauma to investigate their relationship with later SI. This study will investigate the development of posttraumatic nightmares and fear of sleep and their prospective relationship with SI.
We will recruit urban-dwelling patients in downtown Detroit admitted to Henry Ford Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED) for traumatic injuries. We will collect data on their ED-precipitating trauma while they are still in the hospital (T1) and then follow-up survey data at 2-weeks (T2) and 1-month post-ED (T3) to assess the development of nightmares, fear of sleep, and SI. We expect more frequent and severe nightmares and worse fear of sleep at T2 will mediate the relationship between trauma severity at T1 and SI frequency at T3.
We are slated to launch data collection this month, with an estimated range of 75-100 participants expected to complete study procedures by September 2022. Analyses will be conducted in October 2022 and updated to reflect any additional completers by that point. These findings will help inform effective interventions for preventing suicide among trauma-exposed populations by highlighting the clinical relevance of targeting nightmares and fear of sleep in the acute aftermath of trauma.