Some Chronic Insomniacs Who Use An Automated Online Therapy Program May See Improvement Within Weeks, Study Suggests.

The New York Times (12/1, A14, Carey, Subscription Publication) reports that research indicated “more than half of chronic insomniacs who used an automated online therapy program reported improvement within weeks and were sleeping normally a year later.” The findings were published online Nov. 30 in JAMA Psychiatry.

HealthDay (11/30, Reinberg) reports that in “the study, more than 300 adults were randomly assigned to the six-week program,” called SHUTi (Sleep Healthy Using the Internet), “or to online patient education about improving sleep.”

Healio (11/30) reports that “participants who received SHUTi exhibited greater improvement in insomnia severity (P < .001), sleep-onset latency (P < .001) and wake after sleep onset (P < .001), compared with those who received online education.” The investigators found that “treatment effects were maintained at 1-year follow-up, with 56.6% of the SHUTi group achieving remission status and 69.7% identified as treatment responders at 1 year based on Insomnia Severity Index data.” Psychiatric News (11/30) reports the authors of an accompanying editorialobserved that the study’s “results provide an indication that the benefits conferred by SHUTi are not diminished by the presence of either psychiatric or medical comorbidities.” Related Links:

— “Insomniacs Are Helped by Online Therapy, Study Finds,”Benedict Carey, The New York Times, December 1, 2016.

Posted in In The News.