Some people experience a temporary change in behaviour and consciousness, that often involves a collapse and/or shaking limb movements. These are referred to as 'Dissociative seizures'. Those who experience such seizures have been found to also display high levels of dissociation, which can be described as a change in your conscious experience and may include gaps in your memory for events. It is thought that people who experience dissociative seizures also often have difficulties with their sleep. Having difficulties with sleep may make these seizures and the amount of dissociation an individual experiences worse. Greater dissociation may be additionally linked to worsening dissociative seizures. A psychological treatment for sleep difficulties called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBTi), has been found to be effective in reducing sleep difficulties. The main questions this study aims to answer are: 1. Does brief CBTi (bCBTi) improve sleep difficulties in those with dissociative seizures? 2. Does bCBTi reduce the frequency of dissociative seizures? 3. Does bCBTi reduce self-reported levels of dissociation in participants? 4. Does improving sleep difficulties lead to improvements in quality of life, mood and anxiety levels? 5. Is bCBTi a feasible intervention to administer in an inpatient setting? This study will investigate whether improving sleep by administering a brief version of CBTi leads to an improvement in levels of dissociation and dissociative seizure frequency. It will also investigate whether brief CBTi is a feasible treatment method for sleep difficulties in an inpatient setting. Participants who have dissociative seizures and sleep difficulties that could be diagnosed as insomnia will be randomly assigned to a baseline phase of 5, 7 or 9 days, where they will fill out daily questionnaires on their sleep, dissociation and number of seizures. They will then begin a 10-day intervention phase where they will attend two sessions of brief CBTi, whilst also completing daily measures. This will allow us to see whether their scores on the sleep and dissociation measures improve when the intervention begins. Participants will be asked to wear an Actiwatch during the night, to gather information on their movement levels during the night. Information on changes in quality of life, mood and anxiety levels following the sleep intervention will also be collected.
Age range
18 Years
Sex
ALL
See this in plain English?
AI-rewrites the medical criteria so a patient or caregiver can understand them. Always confirm with the trial site.
Bring these to your next appointment. They're a starting point for a shared conversation — not a sign you qualify or a recommendation to enrol.
Generated to help you prepare — always confirm anything about your own eligibility and care with the study team and your doctor.
The trial coordinator is the person who runs the study day to day. These cover the practical side — logistics, costs, and what taking part would actually mean for your life. The study team confirms whether you meet the criteria; these are questions to ask, not a sign you qualify.
A starting point for the conversation — always confirm anything about your own eligibility, costs, and care with the study team and your doctor.
Total Sleep Time (TST)
Timeframe: Measured daily, from baseline to final day of post-intervention phase (day 1 up to day 21).
Wake after sleep onset (WASO)
Timeframe: Measured daily, from baseline to final day of post-intervention phase (day 1 up to day 21).
Number of night time awakenings
Timeframe: Measured daily, from baseline to final day of post-intervention phase (day 1 up to day 21).
Sleep onset latency (SOL)
Timeframe: Measured daily, from baseline to final day of post-intervention phase (day 1 up to day 21).