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ICBT for Insomnia

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Guided Internet-Based Treatments in Psychiatry

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Abstract

Insomnia is a major public health issue. It affects about 10 % of the population and often leads to impairments in emotional and daily functioning as well as to comorbidity with other (mental) disorders. The high prevalence of insomnia and its related burden of disease call for widely available, high-quality, and effective treatments. Insomnia guidelines indicate that cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) is preferred above sleep medication. Unfortunately, face-to-face CBT for insomnia is almost unavailable. Offering CBT via the Internet might be a solution.

To date we have identified ten different Internet CBT programs for insomnia which have published data on the effectiveness of the program: nine for adults and one for adolescent patients. Patients’ adherence to these programs was high (range 54–91 %) indicating that many patients accept the Internet format. The results from the trials on symptoms of insomnia are also very encouraging. In general it seems that patients fall asleep quicker and are less often awake during the night. As for traditional CBT for insomnia, the total number of hours asleep improves more modestly, but because sleep is less fragmented, patients tend to feel more refreshed and restored and less worried about sleep. Furthermore, there are also indications that online CBT for insomnia is effective in reducing depression severity.

Several important questions still need to be answered: Is human support necessary or is automated support sufficient? Can the same results be obtained in clinical samples with help-seeking patients or are they only valid in population samples? Can insomnia treatment prevent other psychological disorders? What are the (long) term effects on daily functioning? Is Internet CBT also cost-effective?

Despite these questions, we conclude that time has come to implement Internet-based treatments for insomnia. Health-care practitioners are in need of other treatment options than medication and patients seem to be willing to adhere to the Internet-based interventions. Based on the studies which have been performed, we feel confident to say that Internet-based CBT for insomnia improves insomnia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical- Developmental and Neuropsychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences & EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Annemieke van Straten

  2. Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Kerstin Blom & Viktor Kaldo

  3. Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Jaap Lancee

Authors
  1. Annemieke van Straten
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  2. Kerstin Blom
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  3. Jaap Lancee
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  4. Viktor Kaldo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Annemieke van Straten .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Neuroscience Division of Psychiatry, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Nils Lindefors

  2. Department of Behavioural Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Gerhard Andersson

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van Straten, A., Blom, K., Lancee, J., Kaldo, V. (2016). ICBT for Insomnia. In: Lindefors, N., Andersson, G. (eds) Guided Internet-Based Treatments in Psychiatry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06083-5_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06083-5_8

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