| Combat-related experiences, including being fired upon, firing weapons and witnessing injury and death, are potentially traumatic events. Chronic reliving of such trauma through nightmares is a symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite the importance of nightmares to the assessment and treatment of PTSD, little research has examined nightmare content in PTSD sufferers. A sample (N=37) of Vietnam veterans scripted a recurring nightmare that was evaluated with Hall and Van de Castle's content analysis system. We hypothesized veterans' nightmares would be characterized by greater negative content relative to positive content. Secondary hypothesis proposed PTSD severity would correlate positively with nightmare frequency and negative content. Findings suggest veterans diagnosed with PTSD who experiences nightmares will present with significantly higher rate of negative content in the nightmare compared to positive content. Characters and settings within nightmare content appear to play significant roles in the severity of PTSD symptoms experienced by Vietnam veterans. |
