# New studies CBT and insomnia



## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

FYI: http://my.webmd.com/content/article/1728.77050 ------------------Moderator of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Anxiety and Hypnotherapy forumI work with Mike and the IBS Audio Program. www.ibshealth.com www.ibsaudioprogram.com


----------



## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

some more on this fyiCognitive Behavioral Therapy A ViableTreatment Option For Insomnia WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Apr 12 - Study resultssuggest that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be aneffective and long-lasting approach for people with persistentprimary insomnia, a form of insomnia characterized by theinability to stay asleep. Dr. Jack D. Edinger and colleagues, from the VA MedicalCenter and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, reportthe finding in the April 11th issue of The Journal of theAmerican Medical Association. "Physicians should take home [from this study] the fact thatinsomnia patients who have trouble staying asleep through thenight can be helped to sleep better without sleeping pills," Dr.Edinger told Reuters Health. "Our cognitive behavioral therapyappears effective for this type of sleep problem." Dr. Edinger's team studied 75 men and women withlong-standing persistent primary insomnia not due topsychiatric, medical or substance abuse problems. Theparticipants were randomized to cognitive therapy andstrategies designed to improve sleep habits and limit time inbed, to progressive muscle relaxation training, or to"quasi-desensitization" treatment. CBT produced far greater improvements in the majority ofoutcome measures than did muscle relaxation training or shamdesensitization treatment, the team reports. "Only the CBTgroup showed both subjective and objective sleep timeincreases through treatment." These improvements wereevident within 6 weeks of treatment and appeared to endurethrough 6 months of follow-up. CBT patients enjoyed a 54% reduction in their "wake time aftersleep onset" score, compared with reductions of only 16% and12% in this key measure in the relaxation and placebo groups,respectively. After the trial, "the average CBT recipient reported [usingsleep logs] a middle wake time after sleep onset of less than 30minutes, a level regarded as normal," the researchers note.Neither of the other two groups achieved this milestone. JAMA 2001;285:1856-1864. ------------------Moderator of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Anxiety and Hypnotherapy forumI work with Mike and the IBS Audio Program. www.ibshealth.com www.ibsaudioprogram.com


----------

