Why Sleep Treatment Helps PTSD

PTSD patients who successfully treat their sleep problems usually show improvements in PTSD symptoms as well. It’s almost as if the sleep intervention was the missing ingredient, which now motivates the PTSD patient to improve their mental and physical health in other ways as well. This diagram shows why:

Twenty-four hour sleep-wake cycle: PTSD patient with comorbid sleep problems

Standard Sleep and PTSD Treatments

Sleep Treatments

At our center, we do not treat your sleep problems with exposure therapy or talk therapy, and we do not focus on medication as a first line of treatment. Our treatments are evidence-based from the field of sleep medicine.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

A hands-on practical approach to understanding and solving insomnia

Imagery Rehearsal Therapy

An innovative and non-threatening technique to reduce insomnia and eliminate nightmares

Positive Airway Pressure

A physiological therapy to open up the human airway while you sleep to maximize the flow of air and improve oxygen levels

Medications

Our main focus is to teach our patients how to sleep without medications

In some instances, patients with leg movement disorders require prescription medications; however, some patients may respond to vitamin and mineral supplements

PTSD Treatments*

The most common, evidence-based PTSD treatments by therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists include:

• Exposure Therapy
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Group Therapy
• Individual Therapy
• Medications: Some drugs may interfere with REM sleep

*Notice how these PTSD treatments may not target sleep problems.

Sleep Dynamic Therapy

Integrating all your Treatment Steps

At Maimonides Sleep Arts & Sciences, we have pioneered the Sleep Dynamic Therapy program, based on a mind-body paradigm for the treatment of sleep disorders. Sleep Dynamic Therapy incorporates all of the elements previously described into an integrative treatment program that often focuses on a single goal: 

Consolidation of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep!

Quick Guide to Sleep Improvements