Active and placebo treatment effects on moderate insomnia under counterdemand and positive demand instructions.

Assigned 48 sleep-disturbed college students to 1 of 4 conditions: relaxation training, single-item desensitization, placebo, and no treatment. Counterdemand instructions were given during the 1st 3 sessions: Ss were told that improvement in sleep disturbance would not occur until after the 4th session. Relaxation and desensitization procedures produced significantly greater reports of improvement in latency of sleep onset than placebo and no treatment during the counterdemand period, while all 3 treated groups reported significantly greater improvement than no treatment after the 4th (positive demand) session. Results support the effectiveness of relaxation therapy in the treatment of moderate insomnia. Demand characteristics may contribute to S reports, but the use of counterdemand instructions allows for valid comparisons among therapy conditions.