Psychophysiological evaluations of clinical efficacy in outpatients: Morita therapy for psychophysiological insomnia

Abstract

The clinical efficacy of Morita therapy on outpatients with psychophysiological insomnia (PPI) was evaluated psychophysiologically. The subjects, 13 outpatients (mean age: 47. 6 +/-17.7, male/female: 6/7), were diagnosed with PPI at the International Classifications of Sleep Disorders. For each patient the examinations were performed consecutively during, one week of pre-treatment (PRE) and post-treatment (POST; 2.0 +/- 1.1 months), using objective (wrist actigraphy) and subjective (sleep log) measurements. The results were as follows. (1) Subjectively, total sleep time increased and sleep latency shortened significantly at POST compared with PRE. (2) Objectively, the numbers of times of waking decreased, sleep efficiency increased and mean activity in sleep decreased significantly at POST compared with PRE. (3) Dissociations between subjective and objective evaluations about awakening time, total sleep time and sleep latency at PRE improved significantly at POST. From the above-mentioned results, it was suggested that the lack of dissociations between subjective and objective evaluations at POST showed psychophysiologically the reconstruction of sleep a preventing association and breaking free from the entrapment of insomnia. This finding suggested that Morita therapy on outpatients with PPI was effective in helping subjects accept their insomnia and lied a constructive life.