Sleep beliefs and attitudes and the association with insomnia among psychiatric outpatients

Background: While it has been demonstrated that dysfunctional sleep beliefs can contribute to sleep disturbances, less is known about it in psychiatric patients and the role these beliefs play in influencing sleep. Aims: To examine maladaptive sleep cognition among psychiatric patients and to assess its association with insomnia. Method: Participants were outpatients (n = 400) recruited from a tertiary psychiatric hospital. The Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep (DBAS-16) scale was administered to examine sleep-related cognitions in different domains. Clinical insomnia was assessed using the Insomnia Severity Index. Factors associated with DBAS were explored using linear regression and the association between DBAS scores and insomnia was tested using logistic regression. Results: Among psychiatric patients, factors associated with the DBAS domains were ethnicity, educational attainment, psychiatric comorbidity, and consumption of sleep medication. Higher dysfunctional sleep beliefs were associated with insomnia. The association was particularly prominent in the mood disorder diagnostic group. Conclusions: Dysfunctional sleep beliefs were associated with insomnia among psychiatric patients. Addressing these maladaptive cognitions is critical in alleviating sleep problems in psychiatric patients.