Sleeping to improve therapy

Insomnia is associated with reduced therapy effectiveness

Sleep disorders and headache problems are highly prevalent and frequently comorbid, but are seldom taught in university psychology curricula. A team of clinical psychology staff and students from Griffith University recently reviewed outcome data from their postgraduate training clinic to examine the prevalence of frequent insomnia and headaches at the onset of therapy in adults. The researchers also assessed whether these problems were associated with higher odds of clients remaining significantly distressed at treatment termination.

It was found that almost half of all adults presenting for therapy at the psychology clinic had trouble falling or staying asleep at least three times in the week leading up to their first session, and nearly a quarter reported headaches three times per week or more. When controlling for age, sex and number of therapy sessions, clients who frequently experienced difficulty sleeping prior to their first session were more than four times more likely to remain significantly distressed when finishing therapy, compared to those who slept better.

Similarly, those with frequent headaches were more than three times more likely to remain distressed. Furthermore, when both frequent sleep difficulties and headaches were present at the initial session, the odds of an inadequate therapy response increased by more than sevenfold, compared to those without sleep and headache problems.

This indicates sleep difficulties and frequent headaches are risk factors for negative therapy outcomes, and should be targeted early in therapy to optimise therapy effectiveness.

doi: 10.1111/CP.12227