Brief Sleep Intervention for Bipolar Disorder

Summary

Individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) experience extreme mood swings, or episodes of depression and (hypo)mania. These episodes are associated with poor functioning, worse course of illness, and high rates of suicidality. It is estimated that between 25 to 65% of individuals with BD attempt suicide and 4 to 19% of individuals with BD eventually die by suicide. Sleep disturbance has been identified as a primary prodromal as well as causal symptom of mood episodes and recently, has been found to be associated with higher rates of suicidal ideation and behavior. Given the role that sleep may have in mood stability and suicidality in BD, it seems imperative to further understand the association of sleep and suicide and how sleep interventions may be useful to reduce suicidality in BD. Thus, the primary aim of this study is to use an innovative home sleep monitoring device, or the Embla, to examine the association of sleep and suicidality in adult outpatients with BD. The Embla is unique in that it is a non-invasive device that can characterize sleep profiles by measuring the degree of sleep fragmentation and percentage of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The study duration is five to six weeks such that patients wear the Embla device for Week 1, participate in a brief sleep intervention for suicide during Weeks 2 and 3, and 4, and then wear the Embla device for one more week (Week 5). This intervention consists of three, 60-min sessions and utilizes cognitive-behavioral therapy strategies (e.g., psychoeducation, cognitive re-structuring, problem solving, behavioral activation) to improve sleep disturbance. The investigators expect that individuals at study entry with more sleep disturbance (as measured by the Embla) will report more suicidal ideation and behaviors. The investigators also hypothesize that from pre- to post-intervention, individuals will report less sleep disturbance as well as suicidal ideation and behaviors. Data from this research has immediate and practical implications for providers and their patients as it the first examination of sleep phenotypes and suicide in a high risk population as well as to explore the association of improvements in sleep with suicidality.

Conditions

• Bipolar Disorder
• Sleep Problems
• Suicidal Thoughts

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Brief Sleep Intervention

Participants will meet with a therapist for three sessions to try to improve sleep problems (hypersomnia or insomnia, depending on the problems the participant has).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

  collaborator OTHER

• Massachusetts General Hospital

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Louisa G Sylvia, Ph.D. · Massachusetts General Hospital

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2013-01-31

Primary Completion

2018-11-15

Completion

2018-11-15

Countries

• United States

Study Locations