The new report, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, is the most comprehensive to date suggesting that many garden-variety insomniacs could benefit from the gold standard treatment — cognitive behavior therapy — without ever having to talk to a therapist. At least one in 10 adults has diagnosable insomnia, which is defined as broken, irregular, inadequate slumber at least three nights a week for three months running or longer.
“I’ve been an insomniac all my life, I’ve tried about everything,” said Dale Love Callon, 70, known as Dacie, a math tutor living in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., who recently used the software. “I don’t have it 100 percent conquered, but I’m sleeping much better now.”
Previous studies have found that online sleep therapy can be effective, but most have been smaller, or focused on a particular sleep-related problem, like depression. The new trial tested the digital therapy in a broad, diverse group of longtime insomniacs whose main complaint was lack of sleep. Most had used medication or supplements over the years, and some still did.
In the study, led by researchers at the University of Virginia, doctors recruited 303 people ages 21 to 65 over the internet. Half were randomly assigned to receive education and advice on insomnia — a digital “placebo,” of sorts, though an active one, in that such advice often helps people sleep better. The other half got a six-week focused online therapy product, called SHUTi.
Some of the researchers, as well as the university, have a stake in this product, which costs $135 for 16 weeks of access. None of those connected to the company analyzed the data or had access to it, or participated in the data analysis, said Lee Ritterband, the lead author and a developer of the online therapy.
SHUTi is not the only digital insomnia therapy product on the market. Sleepio, which costs $300 for a year’s access, and is offered by a London-based company, also incorporates cognitive therapy. And it was also found in a randomized study to have good results.