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What Should Be the Focus of Treatment When Insomnia Disorder Is Comorbid with Depression or Anxiety Disorder?

Publication ,  Journal Article
Morin, CM; Bertisch, SM; Pelayo, R; Watson, NF; Winkelman, JW; Zee, PC; Krystal, AD
Published in: J Clin Med
March 2, 2023

Insomnia is a significant, highly prevalent, persistent public health problem but often remains undiagnosed and untreated. Current treatment practices are not always evidence-based. When insomnia is comorbid with anxiety or depression, treatment often targets that comorbid condition with the expectation that improvement of the mental health condition will generalize to sleep symptoms. An expert panel of seven members conducted a clinical appraisal of the literature regarding the treatment of insomnia when comorbid anxiety or depression are also present. The clinical appraisal consisted of the review, presentation, and assessment of current published evidence as it relates to the panel's predetermined clinical focus statement, "Whenever chronic insomnia is associated with another condition, such as anxiety or depression, that psychiatric condition should be the only focus of treatment as the insomnia is most likely a symptom of the condition". The results from an electronic national survey of US-based practicing physicians, psychiatrists, and sleep (N = 508) revealed that >40% of physicians agree "at least somewhat" that treatment of comorbid insomnia should focus solely on the psychiatric condition. Whereas 100% of the expert panel disagreed with the statement. Thus, an important gap exists between current clinical practices and evidence-based guidelines and more awareness is needed so that insomnia is treated distinctly from comorbid anxiety and depression.

Duke Scholars

Published In

J Clin Med

DOI

ISSN

2077-0383

Publication Date

March 2, 2023

Volume

12

Issue

5

Location

Switzerland

Related Subject Headings

  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 1103 Clinical Sciences
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Morin, C. M., Bertisch, S. M., Pelayo, R., Watson, N. F., Winkelman, J. W., Zee, P. C., & Krystal, A. D. (2023). What Should Be the Focus of Treatment When Insomnia Disorder Is Comorbid with Depression or Anxiety Disorder? J Clin Med, 12(5). https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm12051975

Published In

J Clin Med

DOI

ISSN

2077-0383

Publication Date

March 2, 2023

Volume

12

Issue

5

Location

Switzerland

Related Subject Headings

  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 1103 Clinical Sciences