Insomnia and the eye of the beholder: Are there clinical markers of objective sleep disturbances among adults with and without insomnia complaints?

Previous findings suggest that some who report insomnia sleep well, whereas some noncomplaining individuals sleep rather poorly. This study was conduc ted to determine if mood, anxiety, and sleep-related beliefs might relate t o perceived sleep disturbance. Thirty-two women and 32 men (aged 40-79 Fear ;) with primary insomnia and an aged-matched sample of 61 normal sleepers ( 31 women, 30 men) completed 6 nocturnal sleep recording, as well as the Bec k Depression Inventory (BDI), the Trait portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-2), and the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes About Sleep Questionnaire. Sleep and interview data were used to subdivide the majorit y of the sample (n = 108) into objective normal sleepers and subjective ins omnia sufferers who seemingly slept wed and subjective normal sleepers and objective insomnia sufferers who slept poorly. The 2 subjective subgroups s howed the most marked differences on most of the psychometric measures. The findings suggest that the psychological factors scrutinized in this study may mediate sleep satisfaction and/or predict objective sleep difficulties.