Abstract
Background: Despite an obvious link between social anxiety and acute state of insomnia, chronic types of sleep disturbances in people with social phobia have so far received limited rescarch/clinical attention. This case report aims to illustrate the possibility of rectifying sleep disturbances comorbid with social phobia, using a brief cognitive behaviour therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). Method: Treatment involved five sessions of CBT-I provided individually on a weekly basis. Major treatment components included psychoeducation, sleep restriction therapy, Stimulus control and cognitive restructuring. Results: Treatment effects were assessed using sleep diary and questionnaires over the course of the treatment and at similar to 9 month follow-up. The results were encouraging with all targeted sleep parameters demonstrating improvements that met dual criteria for clinical significance. The gains were well maintained even at similar to 9 months after treatment. These improvements in sleep were accompanied by a reduction in sleep-related anxiety and dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep. Whilst the patient also reported a corresponding improvement in daytime functioning and general anxiety, no gains were observed in depression and social anxiety. Conclusions: These findings highlight the potential benefits of incorporating brief CBT-I into existing treatments for social phobia and encourage further research on the intricate relationship between sleep, mood and social anxiety.
| Original language | English |
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| Pages (from-to) | 113 - 122 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2010 |