Treatment of Adult Insomnia With Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Insomnia is a highly prevalent disorder that occurs frequently in its acute form and at a rate of approximately 10% in its chronic form. There is a high prevalence of insomnia in a variety of medical and psychiatric conditions. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may be employed for chronic insomnia as well as for insomnia in the context of other conditions such as chronic pain conditions. In such cases, some simple adaptations to standard CBT for insomnia are useful. This article reviews the typical assessment and CBT for adult insomnia, which have substantial empirical support for its efficacy. A case illustrates the core treatment processes and demonstrates that improving sleep in the context of conditions like chronic pain can lead to better management of such conditions. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 66:1148-1160, 2010.