Sleep and emotional processing
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An investigation into the role of sleep in dissociative experiences and the response to analogue psychological trauma.
IRAS ID
154161
Contact name
Katharina Wulff
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust
Research summary
The aim of this study is to determine the effect sleep deprivation has on the response to a psychological trauma. To date, very little is known about the role sleep has on the way we respond to a psychological trauma. Sleep is important for many functions that are involved in the way we perceive, respond to and remember an event, including emotional processing and memory. These functions are particularly important when it comes to stressful events. Following a stressful or psychologically traumatic event people can go on to develop negative symptoms that in the worst cases can result in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Therefore, a greater understanding of the role sleep has in the way we respond to trauma is needed to provide additional insight into the best ways to help and treat recently traumatised individuals. \n\nThis is a single blinded randomised control study, recruiting healthy adults to investigate the effect of sleep deprivation, compared to sleep, both before and after an analogue traumatic event, a series of film clips. The study will be conducted mainly in the participant’s home to create as naturalistic situation as possible to allow comparisons to real life situations to be made. Additional sessions will be conducted in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford. Participants will be randomised to one of four groups. Each participant will be in the study for 13 days in total, which will begin with a baseline assessment of the participant’s sleep-wake profile and psychological health. Depending on the study group the participants will either experience the analogue traumatic event before or after a period of sleep deprivation or sleep. How the participants respond will be assessed in terms of memory, dissociative experiences and other symptoms that people can experience following a trauma.
REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EE/0186
Date of REC Opinion
16 May 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion