The assessment of sleep in mental disorders

One aim of clinical and health psychology is to assess the psychological and physiological correlates of mental disorders. Sleep disturbances are highly prevalent among individuals with mental disorders. The assessment of subjective and objective sleep variables is therefore utmost important in clinical settings, and the inclusion of sleep disorders measures in patients’ clinical records is encouraged. Several tools have been developed and validated in empirical research to reach this aim. This contribute will provide a description of the state-of-the-art on sleep variables measurement in individuals with clinical conditions. The gold standard tool to assess objective sleep parameters is polysomnography, that is a composite measure including electroencephalogram, electromyogram, and electrooculogram, and is able to detect different sleep stages. Actigraphy provides a valid, reliable and ecological assessment of physiologically measured sleep and wake duration. Clinical interviews and sleep diaries are recommended in clinical guidelines for the diagnostic assessment of sleep disorders. Self-reported questionnaires are frequently adopted to screen for the presence of sleep disturbances such as chronic insomnia and circadian rhythm disorders. Following the most influential behavioural and cognitive models of the pathophysiology of insomnia, we will introduce self-report measures assessing classical perpetuating factors of sleep disturbances such as dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep, sleep-related worry and rumination, pre-sleep cognitive intrusions, pre-sleep cognitive and somatic arousal, meta-cognitive beliefs about sleep, and adherence to sleep hygiene practices.