1. PRIMARY INSOMNIA EVALUATION

2. Revision Resource Predisposing Factors- Genetic vulnerability
Psychological state of hyperarousal
Precipitating Factors- Stress
Environmental changes, e.g. time zones
Females & Older People
Perpetuating Factors- Maintain insomnia when other factors have gone Tension when falling asleep
Expectation of poor sleep
Revision Resource

3. Research Evidence for Insomnia
Watson et al. (2006)
conducted a twin study
found that 50% of the variance in the risk for insomnia could be attributed to genetic factors.
This supports the idea that genetic vulnerability is a predisposing risk factor of Insomnia.
Support from twin studies may lack generalisability, as obtaining samples of MZ or DZ twins with sleep disorders would be relatively difficult and would yield a small sample which may not be representative of the target population.
Unless they were MZ twins reared apart, if Insomnia did occur within a set of twins, it may instead be explained by similar upbringing.
Wider evaluation

4. Research Evidence for Insomnia
Gregory
Studied the effects of family conflict with insomnia, which linked to high levels of anxiety
Studied New Zealand children
Used questionnaires to find out about households and recorded life events
Found a correlation between family conflict experience from a child from 9-15 and onset of insomnia at 18 years
Supports the idea that family conflict leads to stress is a precipitating factor of insomnia
Extraneous variables were controlled
Longitudinal study, so lots of information was gathered
However, only followed children from New Zealand so could be culturally bias/ethnocentric
Questionnaires can be subjective
Social desirability from participants answers/behaviours
Wider evaluation

5. Research Evidence for Insomnia
Dauvilliers
study on chronic insomniacs to see if there was a link between them and their close family.
Asked 256 repeated primary insomniacs to complete psychometric questionnaires, questionnaire about their family history, a clinical interview (and even a polysomnography in order to collect physiological recordings of the participant's sleep)
Used a control group to find an estimated base-rate incidence of insomnia in their families to understand what all the various data meant
He found a higher percentage in participants with primary insomnia reported familial insomnia compared with the non-insomnia control group.
This research suggests a familial link to primary insomnia.
This study collected a lot of data from numerous measures as well as using a large sample of chronic insomnias (who are sufferers of insomnia for a long period of time) and a control group, suggesting that the data collected is reliable.
What does it actually show about insomnia?
There is little scientific proof that this link exists, it all lies on the fact that the participants believe it's in their family history.
Wider evaluation

6. P= The explanation of primary insomnia into sleep disorders considers genetic, environmental and cognitive (perpetuating factors), we could therefore consider this explanation to consider a more holistic view into explaining primary insomnia.
E= The insomnia explanation suggests that predisposing factors, for example genetic vulnerability, and physiological state of hyperarousal, precipitating factors, for example stress and the environment and perpetuating factors which maintain insomnia when precipitating factors have disintegrated, all work together into maintaining alertness, reducing the ability to sleep.
E= This could be considered positive for the the explanation into sleep disorders. A holistic view point allows us to consider insomnia for many angles, producing a detailed explanation into why we sleep. This gives us a greater understanding into why insomnia occurs and allows us to try many strategies into reducing insomnia and increasing sleep.
IDA

7. The explanation into primary insomnia has many practical applications
The explanation into primary insomnia has many practical applications. Adults over 55 are given Circadin medication which contains melatonin, helping to regulate sleep cycle. In addition self help techniques have been developed such as establishing fixed times for going to bed and cognitive behavioural treatments such as stimulus-control therapy, which helps you to associate your bedroom with sleep and develop to a sleeping pattern. Overall this explanation has not only provided useful applications for society but has allowed individuals with insomnia to gather a better understanding into the complexity of the disorder and how to combat it.
Wider Evaluation

8. Quiz