Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia May Prevent Depression in Older Adults

This study indicates that an intervention aimed at insomnia can effectively reduce the incidence of major depression in those without a depressive disorder at the start of the intervention, meaning that depression can be prevented effectively without even using the worddepressionand thus avoid the associated stigma, ” Pim Cuijpers, Ph.D., of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Charles F. Reynolds III, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine wrote in anaccompanying editorial. “If prevention of major depression can be realized by focusing on insomnia, would it be possible to prevent depressive disorder by focusing on other problems that are associated with depression?”Cuijpers and Reynolds added, “This major finding offers exciting new opportunities for the prevention field and opens a new field of research into indirect preventive interventions for avoiding the stigma of mental disorders.”For related information, see theAmerican Journal of Psychiatry article “The Evolving Nexus of Sleep and Depression. ”(Image: iStock/FG Trade)Don't miss out! To learn about newly posted articles inPsychiatric News, please sign uphere.FollowPsychiatric News on Twitter!For previous news alerts,click here.
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia depression JAMA Psychiatry older adults prevention of depression sleep education Source Type: research