Altering Unhelpful Beliefs About Sleep with Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies

Multi-component treatment of insomnia is widely practiced; although, the additive benefit of a cognitive therapy component to specifically target unhelpful beliefs about sleep has not been conclusively determined. A chart review study at a sleep medicine clinic of 45 insomnia patients evaluated scores on the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes Scale (DBAS-16) before, during, and after cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTi). Treatment followed standard practice, which consisted of behavioral therapy approaches during the first half of treatment and cognitive therapy during the latter portion. DBAS-16 scores improved significantly after behavioral treatment, t (44) = 6.02, P