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Our Next Lecture

Cognitive Behavioral Nightmare Therapies and PTSD

Kristi Ensor Pruiksma, PhD, DBSM

Wednesday, September 18 at 2:00pm ET 

Photo by cottonbro studio

Please note that registration closes one hour before the lecture.

*Be sure to choose "Register and not "Assign to Me"

About the Presenter

KRISTI PRUIKSMA, PhD, DBSM is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and a Diplomat for Behavioral Sleep Medicine. Her work focuses on clinical research and supporting dissemination of evidence-based treatments for sleep disorders and PTSD with a focus on active duty military personnel in affiliation with the STRONG STAR Consortium. She has published more than 50 empirically- reviewed articles and is currently the PI of a DoD funded project to build and test a web-based provider training for CBT for nightmares and a DoD funded project comparing CBT-I and BBT-I in active duty service members with postconcussive symptoms following Mild TBI.

About the Topic

The prevalence of nightmare disorder in the general population is 5%. Nightmares are typically characterized as idiopathic (i.e., from an unknown cause) or trauma-related (i.e., beginning or changing in frequency, severity, or content after a traumatic event). Nightmares are reported by 30% of trauma-exposed civilians, 50% of trauma-exposed veterans, and 30-40% of active duty military personnel and members of the National Guard. Among individuals diagnosed with PTSD, nightmare rates are higher and are reported by 57% of civilians with PTSD and 50-70% of active duty service members with PTSD. A variety of cognitive behavioral interventions show promise for the treatment of nightmares and also improve insomnia, PTSD, and depression. There is a wide range of names for the various treatments tested in randomized controlled trials, which creates challenges in comparing treatment efficacy by protocol in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.  Furthermore, there are not enough providers trained in CBT-N. This presentation will bridge the gap by summarizing data regarding the definition and prevalence of nightmares, providing an overview of CBT-N protocols, describing research of the efficacy of CBT-N in PTSD, and describing a newly developed, DoD funded, web-based provider training for CBT-N.

Upcoming Lectures

October 16, 2024: Treating PTSD in Primary Care (Kyle Possemato, PhD)

November 20, 2024: State of the Science for Written Exposure Therapy (Brian Marx, PhD)

Featured Article

Sleep Problems in Veterans with PTSD

Sleep problems—in particular chronic insomnia and nightmares—are frequently some of the most troubling aspects of PTSD. While these sleep problems are considered symptoms of PTSD, the evidence suggests that they tend to become independent problems over time that warrant sleep-focused assessment and treatment. There are both pharmacologic and cognitive behavioral treatment options available.

Read the full version of this article

Free Resources

The Elephant in the Room

As the national election approaches and political dialogue seems prevalent, we want to remind you about a lecture in our archive: The Elephant in the Room: Treating PTSD When Clinicians Have Negative Reactions to Patients' Sociocultural Views.  

Drs. Abigail Angkaw and Brittany Hall-Clark address the difficulties mental health providers may experience if they have negative reactions to patients' sociocultural views. Examples range from a clinician disagreeing with a patient's political views to a clinician being offended by a patient's use of racist language.

The objectives of the lectures are to:

• Describe difficulties that PTSD clinicians have when having negative reactions to patients' sociocultural views
• Identify strategies PTSD clinicians can utilize if they have negative reactions to a patients' sociocultural views
• Assess and develop a conceptualization of patients' views either within or outside of a trauma framework
• Learn strategies to use case conceptualization to decide when and how to address patient views within PTSD evidence-based treatment

Providers can also earn continuing education credit for watching the recording.   

Check Out Our Updated Webpages

We recently updated the PTSD Consultation Program webpages to provide a more streamlined process for providers to understand what we offer, access resources, and explore our lecture series.  The link to our main page remains the same:  www.ptsd.va.gov/consult.  

The lecture series page now includes a searchable archive of our recorded lectures with links to options for continuing education credit for watching the recordings, when available.  

Are you treating U.S. Veterans?

Our team of expert clinicians is available to consult with any healthcare provider treating U.S. veterans in any setting.   We can discuss assessment, diagnosis, psychotherapy, medications, collaborating with VA care, patient and family education, continuing education, and just about anything else related to veterans and PTSD.  No question is too big or too small. Contact us at PTSDconsult@va.gov or 866-948-7880.