Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Patient Therapeutic Education on Chronic Insomnia

20 to 30% of the general population suffers from chronic insomnia. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the first-line treatment, but unfortunately its implementation is complex. Long waiting times for a consultation / exploration, too short a consultation period, non-reimbursement of specialists and a lack of trained staff make the current care of insomniac patients difficult. Patients are thus treated late, often with heavy drug treatment, dependence on sleeping pills, difficult withdrawal and / or reactive mood disorders. The treatment is therefore limited to advice on sleep hygiene and a restriction of time spent in bed without ultimately intervening in the cognitive domain. Therapeutic education consists of empowering the patient in the management of chronic insomnia through group education workshops. The patient learns the principles of normal sleep, the way in which sleep evolves with aging, the dangers of treatments as well as the rules of sleep hygiene and the behaviors to modify to sleep well. In addition to benefiting from sharing of experience with other patients, therapeutic education makes the care pathway smoother and considerably reduces the long waiting times of the traditional care pathway in consultation.

The study investigators hypothesize that therapeutic education is more effective as a treatment for chronic insomnia than traditional management in individualized consultation (IC). Thus, therapeutic education could constitute an effective alternative to CBT.