Group cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia delivered to veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder receiving residential treatment is associated with improvements in sleep independent of changes in posttraumatic stress disorder.


This chart review examined the effects of a six-session cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) group in a sample of veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) receiving residential PTSD treatment. Earliest-session scores on self-report sleep variables were compared to final-session scores among the 47 veterans who received at least five group sessions. Separate analyses were performed for the 39 veterans for whom the PTSD Checklist (PCL-M) scores before and after CBT-I were available, with change in the PCL-M score (10-point decrease or not) as a factor. Repeated-measures analyses of variance indicated significant improvements in the time awake after sleep onset, F(1, 46) = 4.17, p < .05; time in bed, F(1, 46) = 4.06, p < .05; sleep efficiency, F(1, 46) = 4.71, p < .05; and Insomnia Severity Index score, F(1, 46) = 38.8, p < .001. There were no significant effects for sleep onset latency or total sleep time. For veterans with available PCL-M scores, there were no significant interactions between PTSD score change and any of the sleep variables analyzed. These results add to the literature indicating that CBT-I is an effective treatment for insomnia with veterans diagnosed with PTSD. The suitability of CBT-I in residential treatment settings is also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)