Objective: Aggression is a common behavioral problem in combat related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Sleep disturbances are important symptoms in the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Sleep disturbances and aggression are two prominent reasons for applying of combat related PTSD patients to the hospital. The relationship between sleep quality and aggression in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder was aimed to investigate in this study.
Methods: Psychometric data of 68 patients, who have the diagnosis of PTSD according to DSM-IV diagnostic criteria were evaluated. Socio-demographic questionnaire, Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPSQ) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were administered to the all participants.
Results: PSQI scores of the patients were 11.04±3.32 and BPSQ scores were 54.45±13.01. There was a positive correlation between PSQI scores and BPSQ scores (r:0.369, p<0.05).
Conclusion: Several studies were undertaken investigating the relationship between sleep quality and aggression, and positive correlations were detected in some of them. Sleep quality was associated with aggression scores (positive correlation) in the patients who have received a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorders. The data obtained as biological evidence on this issue is remarkable. Prefrontal cortex (PFC) is known to play a role both in maintaining sleep and in the regulation of behaviors. Especially in recent years, studies have been made about impaired PFC function of PTSD patients.