Better Sleep in Psychiatric Care - Depression, Anxiety and Trauma, Pilot Study

Karolinska Institute

Status: Completed

Conditions: PTSD; Anxiety Disorders; Affective Disorders; Insomnia Chronic

Treatments: Behavioral: CBT-i

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05379244

2018/80-31/1a

Details and patient eligibility

About

Between 50-80 percent of patients in psychiatry have insomnia-type sleep problems. In addition to reduced quality of life and impaired function, sleep problems can aggravate other psychiatric problems and increase the risk of relapse into, for example, depression. According to international guidelines, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-i) should be used as the first choice for treatment of insomnia. In practice, however, it is very uncommon for psychiatric patients to be offered CBT-i, instead most are treated with sleep medications. There is also a lack of research studies evaluating CBT-i in regular clinical practice.

This pilot study investigated the feasibility of a group treatment with CBT-i at a psychiatric outpatient clinic in Stockholm for patients with depression, bipolar disorder II, anxiety syndrome and PTSD. Changes in symptoms of insomnia, depression, and anxiety after treatment were also investigated.

Patients with self-perceived sleep problems were offered a six-session group treatment based on CBT-i. The primary outcome was clinical feasibility, defined as: the influx of patients sufficient to start at least one group per semester (at least 8 patients); at least half of included patients participate in the first session; patients participate in at least half of the sessions; less than half of the patients drop out of treatment; group leaders find the treatment manual credible, easy to use and want to continue working with it after the study is completed.

Secondary outcomes were changes in insomnia symptoms, and changes in symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Enrollment: 18 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Being a patient at a specialist outpatient clinic treating these patient groups
• Insomnia disorder or sleep problems of insomnia type
• Over 10 points on the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI)
• Adequate skills in written and spoken Swedish
• No practical barriers to participate in the group treatment

Exclusion criteria

• night shift work
• ongoing alcohol or drug abuse that required treatment at a specialised unit

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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18 participants in 1 patient group

CBT-i

Experimental group

Description:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia adjusted for patients with mixed psychiatric disorders

Treatment:

Behavioral: CBT-i