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August 22, 2026Clinical Psychology Review109 citations

Empirical and Conceptual Review of Posttraumatic Nightmares and Dreaming Theories in PTSD

Understanding posttraumatic nightmares: An empirical and conceptual review

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DFDavid Forbes

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Overview

Conceptual review reveals gaps in explaining symbolic and repetitive posttraumatic nightmares in PTSD, indicating the need for integrated explanatory models.

Key Points

  • To review empirical and conceptual understandings of posttraumatic nightmares across PTSD and dreaming literature, evaluating how well existing models explain both replay and symbolic post-trauma dreams.
  • Reviewed theoretical and empirical literature on posttraumatic nightmares (PTNMs) within the fields of PTSD and sleep/dreaming research.
  • Evaluated the explanatory capacity of PTSD cognitive models against adaptive dreaming theories regarding dream repetition and symbolism.
  • PTSD models account for literal replay nightmares but fail to explain trauma-related dreams that are symbolic.
  • Adaptive dreaming theories account for evolving replay and symbolic dreams over time but cannot explain persistent, repetitive nightmares.
  • Identified that no existing single framework adequately explains posttraumatic nightmares that are simultaneously symbolic and repetitive, prompting the proposal of three integrated alternative models.

Cite This Study

David Forbes (2007) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a898a66de8e7079c6f7d64ahttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2007.06.001
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