中華心理衛生協會

Purpose: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been verified as an effective treatment for insomnia. In Taiwan, junior and senior high school students generally lack sleep due to the heavy pressure put on them to succeed academically. They go to school early and attend a cram school afterwards for more instruction. This situation makes behavioral intervention techniques difficult to fully implement. This report presents the progress of a male, third-year junior high school student who experienced a short-term course of CBT and discusses the efficacy and difficulties of implementing CBT for insomnia in Taiwanese junior and senior high school students. Methods: A male student aged 15 years old from a private junior high school in northern Taiwan who has sleep maintenance difficulties and occasional episodes of sleepwalking participated in a short-term CBT course for his insomnia. He was interviewed 7 times with 50 minutes each at intervals ranging from 2 to 4 weeks. Results: In the case of insomnia stemming from high academic pressure, it is difficult to alleviate sleep deprivation during the week. However, the student reduced his insomnia by changing his activities before going to bed as a way of reducing cognitive arousal, thereby increasing sleep continuity and awareness during the day. Conclusions: In this case, planning intervention program requires a more cautious in pathological considerations. When consideration the lifestyle of junior high school students, cognitive behavioral therapy can improve their sleep disturbance when adopt a more flexible approach.