Pilot Study of a Brief Sleep Intervention for Suicidal Ideation in Bipolar Disorder

We investigated the feasibility and acceptability of a brief sleep intervention and sleep monitoring device in bipolar disorder (BD), as well as the intervention's effectiveness in reducing suicidal ideation through improved sleep quality and duration.

Participants (N=13) with BD received 4 sessions of cognitive-behavioral therapy for sleep disturbance and completed assessments of the intervention and sleep device acceptability, mood, suicidal ideation, and sleep at pretreatment and posttreatment.

Feasibility and acceptability of the intervention were high at both pretreatment and posttreatment and did not significantly change by the intervention's conclusion, although participants reported being significantly more likely to recommend the intervention to others at posttreatment. The sleep device was easy to understand, wear, and did not interfere with participants' sleep. Suicidal ideation and depressive symptoms significantly decreased from pretreatment to posttreatment (P<0.05). There were small, but not significant, improvements in the percentage of time spent in stable sleep and total average nightly sleep.

The potential of this intervention for reducing suicidal ideation and improving sleep is promising, but future research is warranted.