Treating Insomnia with High Risk of Depression Using Therapist-Guided Digital Cognitive, Behavioral, and Circadian Rhythm Support Interventions to Prevent Worsening of Depressive Symptoms: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Jeanne Leerssen, Oti Lakbila-Kamal, Laura M. S. Dekkers, Savannah L. C. Ikelaar, Anne C. W. Albers, Tessa F. Blanken, Jaap Lancee, Glenn J. M. van der Lande, Teodora Maksimovic, Sophie E. Mastenbroek, Joyce E. Reesen, Sjors van de Ven, Tanja van der Zweerde, Jessica C. Foster-Dingley, Eus J. W. van Someren

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Introduction: The global disease burden of major depressive disorder urgently requires prevention in high-risk individuals, such as recently discovered insomnia subtypes. Previous studies targeting insomnia with fully automated eHealth interventions to prevent depression are inconclusive: Dropout was high and likely biased, and depressive symptoms in untreated participants on average improved rather than worsened. Objective: This randomized controlled trial aimed to efficiently prevent the worsening of depressive symptoms by selecting insomnia subtypes at high risk of depression for internet-based circadian rhythm support (CRS), cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), or their combination (CBT-I+CRS), with online therapist guidance to promote adherence. Methods: Participants with an insomnia disorder subtype conveying an increased risk of depression (n = 132) were randomized to no treatment (NT), CRS, CBT-I, or CBT-I+CRS. The Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self Report (IDS-SR) was self-administered at baseline and at four follow-ups spanning 1 year. Results: Without treatment, depressive symptoms indeed worsened (d = 0.28, p = 0.041) in high-risk insomnia, but not in a reference group with low-risk insomnia. Therapist-guided CBT-I and CBT-I+CRS reduced IDS-SR ratings across all follow-up assessments (respectively, d =-0.80, p = 0.001; d =-0.95, p < 0.001). Only CBT-I+CRS reduced the 1-year incidence of clinically meaningful worsening (p = 0.002). Dropout during therapist-guided interventions was very low (8%) compared to previous automated interventions (57-62%). Conclusions: The findings tentatively suggest that the efficiency of population-wide preventive strategies could benefit from the possibility to select insomnia subtypes at high risk of developing depression for therapist-guided digital CBT-I+CRS. This treatment may provide effective long-term prevention of worsening of depressive symptoms. Trial registration: The Netherlands Trial Register (NL7359).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)168–179
Number of pages12
JournalPsychotherapy and Psychosomatics
Volume91
Issue number3
Early online date6 Dec 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2022

Keywords

  • Depressive symptoms
  • Insomnia treatment
  • Prevention
  • Randomized controlled trial

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