NCT06969040

The Effect of Standard Cognitive-behavioral Therapy+Transcranial Alternating Current on Refractory Insomnia Disorder

Evaluation of the Efficacy of Standard Cognitive Behavioural Therapy + Transcranial Alternating Current in the Treatment of Refractory Insomnia Disorder

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 70 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Xuanwu Hospital, Beijing · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of CBTI + transcranial alternating current (TAC) technology in the treatment of refractory insomnia and the mechanism of 'cognitive-behavioural-brain network' interactions.

Detailed description

Difficult to treat insomnia is a sleep disorder that significantly reduces the quality of sleep for patients, seriously affecting their daily work and study. At present, the main treatment method for refractory insomnia in clinical practice is drug therapy. The problems with drug therapy mainly include easy recurrence after discontinuation and the need for long-term or even lifelong medication. However, tolerance or other adverse reactions limit its long-term use. In recent years, studies have shown that cognitive-behavioral therapy and transcranial alternating current stimulation are effective in treating chronic insomnia, prolonging sleep time and improving sleep quality. However, there have been no reports on the efficacy and safety of CBTI combined with tACS in the treatment of refractory insomnia. Based on the important role of tACS in regulating cortical excitability and spontaneous EEG activity, as well as the precise efficacy of CBTI in improving insomnia, we plan to use CBTI combined with tACS to treat refractory insomnia disorders, in order to improve the effectiveness of treatment. This study adopts a randomized double-blind controlled trial to investigate the efficacy and safety of CBT+tACS in the treatment of refractory insomnia, aiming to provide a basis for clinical data of CBT+tACS in the treatment of refractory insomnia.

Conditions

• Insomnia

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	CBTI + tACS	CBTI + tACS group method: CBTI for about 50 minutes each time, for a total of 6 weeks: ① first interview: enrolment assessment; ② second interview: treatment initiation; ③ third interview: sleep titration and sleep hygiene; ④ fourth interview: sleep titration; ⑤ fifth-seventh interview: sleep titration; ⑥ eighth interview: sleep titration (end of standardised CBTI treatment. tACS true stimulation) : Transcranial alternating current therapy (tACS) was operated during the same period of CBTI, with 3 electrodes, placed in the prefrontal lobe and bilateral mastoid; the stimulation intensity was 77.5 Hz, 15 mA, 40 min each time, once a day, 5 days a week, for 6 weeks.
OTHER	CBTI + Sham tACS	CBTI+sham tACS group method: CBTI treatment method was the same as before. tACS pseudo-stimulation: the electrode placement position, stimulation frequency, and time settings were the same as the real stimulation, and the stimulation process only had the output of gradual rising and falling current at the beginning and the last 10s, respectively, so as to make the subjects produce the same subjective feelings as the real stimulation.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-11-01
• Primary completion: 2025-10-01
• Completion: 2025-11-01
• First posted: 2025-05-13
• Last updated: 2025-05-23

Locations

1 site across 1 country: China