Pre-sleep imagery under the microscope: a comparison of patients with insomnia and good sleepers.

Full Abstract

During the pre-sleep period and in the natural home environment patients with insomnia (N=20) and good sleepers (N=20) were asked to record when an image came to mind by pressing a handheld counter. They then provided an oral description of the image and indicated whether the image was 'pleasant', 'unpleasant', or 'neutral' (responses captured via a voice-activated tape recorder). Subjective and objective (actigraphy) estimates of sleep-onset latency (SOL) were recorded. On both the handheld counter and the audiotape recording, participants with insomnia reported fewer images than the good sleepers. The insomnia group had a higher percentage of unpleasant images compared to good sleepers. For the insomnia group, but not the good sleeper group, there was a positive correlation between unpleasant images and subjective SOL. The insomnia group experienced more images regarding 'intimate relationships' and 'sleep' and fewer regarding 'random/non-connected topics' compared to the good sleeper group. The results are discussed with reference to proposals made by Borkovec, Ray and Stöber (Cognitive Ther. Res., 22, (1998) 561) in the context of generalised anxiety disorder (GAD).

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Author information

Author/s: Nelson, J (J); Harvey, A G (AG);

Affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Behaviour research and therapy (Behav Res Ther), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Mar; vol 41 (issue 3) : pp 273-84

Dates: Created 2003/02/25; Completed 2003/05/20; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12600399, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Humans
Imagination
Male
Sleep - physiology
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders - psychology

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