Chronic pain management

Chronic pain is difficult to treat and often precedes or exacerbates sleep disturbances such as insomnia. Insomnia, in turn, can amplify the pain experience. Both conditions are associated with inflammatory processes, which may be involved in the bidirectional relationship between pain and sleep. CBT for pain and CBT for insomnia are evidence based interventions for, respectively, chronic pain and insomnia. 

Recent studies found that:

• An intervention combining two evidence-based treatment protocols, CBT for pain and CBT for insomnia, was feasible to deliver within 8 to 16 sessions in an individual format (to individuals with co-occurring chronic pain and insomnia).
• The combined CBT intervention produced significant improvements in sleep, disability from pain, depression and fatigue.
• The combined intervention appeared to be superior to CBT for pain and to CBT for insomnia with respect to sleep outcomes.