title: Attentional bias in people with acute versus persistent insomnia secondary to cancer.
abstract: This study investigated the role of attentional bias in the development of persistent insomnia. Two groups of people with cancer who developed sleep-onset problems 0-3 months and 12-18 months after diagnosis completed a computerized emotional Stroop task comprising cancer-related and sleep-related word cues and self-complete measures. Both groups demonstrated attentional bias for cancer-related words, but only the persistent insomnia group demonstrated attentional bias for sleep-related words. High levels of presleep cognitive arousal were evident in both groups despite lower levels of psychological distress in the persistent insomnia group. Results suggest that secondary, sleep-related mental preoccupation may inhibit recovery to normal sleep after stress-related acute sleep disturbance. Findings are discussed in relation to current models of insomnia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Glasgow, Scotland.
authors.forename: Lynne M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Colin A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Espie
authors.forename: Craig A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires