Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in School-Aged Children and Adolescents

Insomnia is one of the most prevalent sleep disorders in school-aged children and adolescents. Although CBT-i is the first-line treatment for adults and existing studies show promising effects also for children and adolescents, the number of RCTs in these younger age groups is rather small. CBT-i techniques for school-aged children and adolescents include bedtime shifts (including sleep restriction), stimulus control, thought challenging, psychoeducation about sleep, sleep hygiene, and relaxation techniques. The inclusion of parents, especially in school-aged children with insomnia, is highly recommended. The authors strongly urge the scientific community to conduct further controlled trials, including dismantling trials that evaluate the relative effectiveness of individual CBT-i components (eg, thought challenging, sleep restriction therapy)(74); so clinicians can be more confident in using these techniques to better the sleep health of young people. Furthermore, more research is needed to investigate specific characteristics and models of child and adolescent insomnia.