Incorporating Principles from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy into Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia: A Case Example

 Although traditional cognitive behavioral treatments for insomnia have demonstrated efficacy for many individuals with primary and comorbid insomnia, not all individuals benefit from treatment and some experience a subsequent relapse of insomnia.  Furthermore, many individuals experience difficulty in implementing the sleep restriction and stimulus control strategies, especially over the long-term.  The current article describes ways in which principles from a newer type of behavior therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), can be integrated with traditional behavioral treatment strategies for insomnia.  A major goal of ACT is to increase willingness to experience unpleasant thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations, and to promote engagement in personally-valued behaviors while non-judgmentally observing these unpleasant experiences.  ACT has the potential to enhance the behavioral treatment of insomnia by fostering willingness to experience short-term discomfort (e.g., fatigue) that occurs while implementing sleep restriction and stimulus control strategies.  A case example is presented to illustrate how these principles from ACT can be integrated with behavioral techniques in the treatment of insomnia.