Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep and Insomnia

The following is an abstract from the Journal of Psychosomatic Research 2007;62(1):81-4. "The role of dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes in late-life insomnia." by ELLIS J, HAMPSON SE, CROPLEY M.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the role of individual and combined sleep-related dysfunctional beliefs in late-life insomnia. METHODS: Older adults who responded to an advertisement in a magazine took part in a cross-sectional survey (N=382). Respondents completed self-report measures of dysfunctional beliefs about sleep (Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes to Sleep Scale) as well as measures of their current sleep patterns. RESULTS: Overall, people with insomnia (PWI) endorsed more extreme ratings of dysfunctional beliefs than "good sleepers" did. However, some sleep-related dysfunctional beliefs did not discriminate PWIs from good sleepers nor were they related to experiencing a longer duration of insomnia. CONCLUSION: This article demonstrates that not all sleep-related dysfunctional beliefs are related to reporting insomnia and that some are not related to a longer reported duration of insomnia, possibly changing through personal experience. These preliminary results may have implications for tailoring the cognitive aspects of psychoeducational programmes for people with late-life insomnia.