Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Helps Treat Insomnia

Guidelines on using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to treat insomnia are released for general practitioners.

Researchers from the Flinders University have proposed new guidelines for general practitioners to treat people with insomnia more effectively .

Chronic insomnia affects physical and mental health and wellbeing. Approximately 15% of the people with insomnia have it for years, if not treated. The most common treatment of choice is sedative-hypnotic medicines.

Insomnia | Sleeping Difficulty - Symptom Evaluation
Insomnia may be due to physiological, psychological, physical or environmental factors. Insomnia should be treated promptly in order to improve the quality of life and prevent other health problems.

‘Cognitive Behavioural Therapy helps improve insomnia and overall quality of life. It could be more feasible than treatment with sedatives.’

A short course of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy could help in treating insomnia, says guidelines published in the Australian Journal of General Practice.

"We are aiming to provide GPs with more information, accessible guidelines, and tools, as well as referral and treatment options to manage insomnia with CBTi," says lead researcher Dr.Alex Sweetman from Flinders University.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a type of intervention where strategies that alleviate mental health are adopted in the treatment of patients. The authors have crafted a clinical review for General Practitioners (GPs) that includes a step-by-step approach in using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi).

Insomnia — Overview
Difficulty in initiating and maintaining sleep is known as insomnia. It is a symptom that occurs due to other disorders and can cause daytime sleepiness.

The highlights from the review are,

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi) can improve insomnia, mental health, overall quality of life.

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• Brief Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (BBTi) program, a four-session cognitive behavioural therapy will be much more exclusive and cost-effective in treating insomnia.

Meanwhile, experts from Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health (AISH) and some other institutes have enrolled 2044 adult Australians to study further complex cases of combined insomnia, and sleep apnoea (COMISA). The findings of that study showed that those conditions are associated with increased medical and psychiatric co-morbidity, as well as poor general health.

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Source-Medindia