Posttraumatic stress disorder, sleep and medical cannabis treatment: A daily diary study

Sharon R Sznitman; David Meiri; Ben H Amit; Dennis Rosenberg; Talya Greene

doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102632

Posttraumatic stress disorder, sleep and medical cannabis treatment: A daily diary study

J Anxiety Disord. 2022 Dec:92:102632. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102632. Epub 2022 Sep 16.

Authors

Sharon R Sznitman¹, David Meiri², Ben H Amit³, Dennis Rosenberg⁴, Talya Greene⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health University of Haifa, Israel. Electronic address: sznitman@research.haifa.ac.il.
² Faculty of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
³ Reuth Rehabilitation Center, Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
⁴ School of Public Health University of Haifa, Israel.
⁵ Department of Community Mental Health, University of Haifa, Israel.

PMID: 36182689
DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102632

Abstract

Despite increasing use of Medical Cannabis (MC) among posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients, research is lacking on how MC treatment relates to PTSD symptomatology, in particular sleep disturbances. This study examines the time gap between MC use and sleep onset and its association with (1) number of awakenings throughout the night, (2) early awakenings, (3) nightmares. Each morning over a two week period, 77 licensed MC patients suffering from PTSD reported on the timing of previous night MC use and sleep disturbances. Within-person analyses found that shorter time gaps between previous night MC use and sleep start time was associated with lower likelihood of experiencing nightmares throughout the night, but it was not associated with nightly awakenings or waking up too early. Between-person analyses showed that individuals who used MC products with higher CBD concentrations reported fewer early awakenings. These preliminary results indicate that future research should test causal relations between MC use and sleep problems in PTSD patients. Future research is warranted in order to explore causal relationships between MC use, nightmares and insomnia in PTSD patients.

Keywords: Daily diary study; Insomnia; Medical cannabis; Nightmares; PTSD.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Dreams
Humans
Medical Marijuana* / therapeutic use
Sleep
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders* / complications
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders* / drug therapy
Sleep Wake Disorders* / complications
Sleep Wake Disorders* / drug therapy
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic* / complications
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic* / drug therapy

Substances

Medical Marijuana