Effects of a behavioral sleep medicine intervention on trauma symptoms in adolescents recently treated for substance abuse

This study tested whether improvement in sleep by an integrative, behavioral sleep intervention was associated with improvement in traumatic stress (TS) symptoms in a sample of 20 adolescents who were recently treated for substance abuse. Sleep was measured throughout the intervention via daily sleep diaries, and traumatic stress symptoms were assessed by the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN) at baseline, post-intervention, 3-months post-intervention, and 12-months post-intervention. Individuals with more time in bed and more total sleep time at the beginning of the intervention had more improvement in TS symptom trajectories across the intervention and at the 12-month follow-up assessment. Interaction trends also emerged indicating that adolescents who, throughout the sleep intervention, went to bed later and fell asleep faster had greater improvements in TS symptoms over time. Overall, these results indicate that stimulus control, a therapy that encourages patients to attempt sleep only when they are sleepy, may be particularly helpful for adolescents with TS symptoms, sleep disturbances, and substance abuse histories.