Comparing the Effects of Cognitive-behavioral Therapy and Zolpidem 10 mg on Illness Perception and Sleep Efficiency in Individuals With Chronic Insomnia.

Background and Aim This study aimed at comparing the efficacy of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and zolpidem 10 mg on illness perception and sleep efficiency in individuals with chronic insomnia. Methods & Materials The study participants included 74 (female=43) individuals with chronic insomnia who were recruited from December 2018 to February 2020 by purposive sampling method (as per the inclusion & exclusion criteria). Then, the study patients were randomly allocated to one of the 3 conditions, including CBT (n=25), pharmacotherapy (zolpidem 10 mg; n=29), and the waiting list (n=20). All explored patients were assessed at pretreatment, post-treatment, and a 3-month follow-up by the Persian version of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire and Sleep Efficiency Index. The collected data were analyzed by repeated-measure Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni post-hoc test. Ethical Considerations This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Kharazmi University of Tehran (Code: IR.KHU.REC.1398.008). Findings The patients who received CBT, compared to those in the waiting list group, obtained significantly lower scores in illness perception and sleep efficiency at post-treatment and 3-month follow-up. The efficacy of pharmacotherapy was observed at post-treatment; however, there were no significant differences between pharmacotherapy and waiting list patients at the 3-month follow-up. Conclusion CBT significantly reduced insomnia, illness perceptions, and sleep efficiency in 3 months. All the treatment gains remained stable even 3 months after the treatment. Furthermore, not receiving any treatment on the waiting list and gradually discontinued the treatment in the pharmacotherapy group have led to decreased sleep efficiency and increased illness perception.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]