Dr. Muppavarapu is Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine, Greenville, North Carolina. Dr. Muthukanagaraj is a PGY-5 Internal Medicine/Psychiatry Resident, Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine, Greenville, North Carolina. Dr. Saeed is Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine, Greenville, North Carolina.
Disclosures The authors report no financial relationships with any companies whose products are mentioned in this article, or with manufacturers of competing products.
A significant improvement in nightmares was noted in both groups (29% of participants showed a clinically-significant reduction in nightmare frequency and 22% of participants achieved remission).
CBT-I plus IR was not superior to CBT-I only at postintervention and at 6-month follow-up.
Conclusion
Both IR and CBT-I demonstrated efficacy for decreasing nightmare frequency and distress.
Combining IR and CBT-I may not provide a synergistic advantage over CBT-I alone for treating PTSD-related nightmares in veterans.