Imagery rehearsal therapy and/or mianserin in treatment of refugees diagnosed with PTSD: Results from a randomized controlled trial.

Imagery rehearsal therapy and/or mianserin in treatment of refugees diagnosed with PTSD: Results from a randomized controlled trial. J Sleep Res. 2021 Feb 02;:e13276 Authors: Sandahl H, Jennum P, Baandrup L, Lykke Mortensen E, Carlsson J Abstract Sleep disturbances are frequently part of the symptomatology in refugees with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It has been suggested that targeting sleep disturbances may enhance the outcome of PTSD treatment. However, randomized studies on the effect of treatment focusing on sleep disturbances in refugees with PTSD are lacking. The aim of this study was to examine add-on treatment with imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) and/or mianserin against treatment as usual (TAU) alone in a sample of trauma-affected refugees with PTSD at 8-12 months follow-up. In a randomized controlled trial, 219 adult refugees diagnosed with PTSD and suffering from sleep disturbances were randomized to four groups (1:1:1:1) receiving, respectively, TAU, TAU + mianserin, TAU + IRT, and TAU + IRT + mianserin. The primary outcome was subjective sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) and the secondary outcomes included PTSD and depression symptoms, level of functioning and subjective well-being. The data were analysed using mixed models. The only significant effect of IRT was on level of functioning (p = .040, ES 0.44), whereas there was no significant effect of mianserin on any of the measured out...
Source: Journal of Sleep Research - Category: Sleep Medicine Authors: Tags: J Sleep Res Source Type: research