Digital CBT can improve sleep in individuals with insomnia and chronic fatigue

It is already known that insomnia affects ~10% of the population. The condition is characterized by difficulty sleeping and facing negative daytime consequences. Daytime fatigue hampers an

Previous research shows that face-to-face and digital cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is highly efficacious in managing insomnia and related symptoms.

If CBT-I is effective for both insomnia and chronic fatigue (CF), it may be an adjunctive psychological intervention for mental and physical disorders. Data are scarce on the comparative effectiveness of CBT-I in individuals with insomnia with or without CF in the general population.

Considering the above background, in the present study, researchers hypothesized that dCBT-I has lower effectiveness for individuals with CF than those without CF.

The study summary includes the following:

• This data was used from 1717 participants with self-reported insomnia in a community-based RCT of digital cognitive behaviour therapy for insomnia compared with patient education.
• Five hundred ninety-two participants had chronic fatigue, while 1125 had no chronic fatigue.
• Participants with chronic fatigue had more significant improvements after digital cognitive behaviour therapy for insomnia. This was compared with patient education on the Short Form-12 mental health, Insomnia Severity Index, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.
• The effectiveness of digital cognitive behaviour therapy for insomnia between chronic fatigue and no chronic fatigue participants had no significant difference.

Concluding further, they said that in a large community-based sample of adults with insomnia, co-occurring chronic fatigue did not moderate the effectiveness of digital cognitive behaviour therapy for insomnia on any of the tested outcomes.

Our study found that dCBT-I reduces symptoms of insomnia. This is in line with what previous research has reported. The present study also reported improvements in psychological distress for individuals with and without CF who received dCBT-I compared with PE.

There are limitations in the study which are essential while interpreting the results, they reported.

Further reading:

Lina Stålesen Ramfjord et al. Digital cognitive behaviour therapy for individuals with self-reported insomnia and chronic fatigue: A secondary analysis of a large scale randomized controlled trial. First published: 22 March 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13888