Mindfulness and behaviour therapy for insomnia: an assessment of efficacy in a naturalistic Australian sample

Insomnia is now a common major health concern that causes significant distress and disruption in a person’s life. This thesis focuses on investigating the validity of Mindfulness Based Therapy for Insomnia (MBT-I): a new treatment for insomnia, which combines Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) with the behavioural component of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). A pilot study by Ong, Shapiro and Manber (2008) evaluated MBT-I in a group of subjects who met the criteria of psychophysiological insomnia, with indications of subjective treatment efficacy. This paper draws on the findings of Ong and colleagues in order to show that MBT-I may be effective in the treatment of a wide range of insomnia presentations. Thirty participants who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM–5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) diagnosis of insomnia, participated in a six week, group intervention developed by Ong (2008). The treatment included: mindfulness meditation, sleep restriction, stimulus control and sleep hygiene. Outcome measures were a daily sleep diary and actigraphy during pre-treatment and the treatment period, along with subjective sleep outcomes collected at baseline, post-treatment and three-month follow-up. Analysis of the findings show that MBT-I was associated with a large decrease in insomnia severity, with indications of maintenance of treatment effect. There were also significant improvements in both objective and subjective sleep parameters, such as: reduced sleep onset latency; increased sleep efficiency; reduced time awake after sleep onset; and indications of cognitive arousal reduction. Overall, this study indicates that MBT-I can be successfully replicated, with evidence of treatment efficacy in a naturalistic sample. Furthermore, this study extends on previous research by identifying objective improvements in sleep following MBT-I. These results warrant further exploration of MBT-I with Phase III clinical research

2018 - The Twenty-third Annual Symposium of Student Scholars

The full program book from the Twenty-third Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 19, 2018. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/sssprograms/1020/thumbnail.jp