Research Progress on the Combined Use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Traditional Chinese Medicine External Treatments for Insomnia Complicated by Depression

Abstract

Insomnia and depression are highly prevalent comorbid conditions in clinical practice, mutually influencing each other and forming a vicious cycle that severely impairs patients’ physical and mental health as well as social functioning. Conventional Western medicine treatment has many drawbacks, including dependence risks, prominent adverse reactions, and high long-term recurrence rates. Both single cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) and external Chinese medicine therapy have limitations in application. In recent years, the integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine intervention model has been widely used in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of insomnia comorbid with depression due to its synergistic advantages of treating both body and mind and addressing both symptoms and root causes. This paper systematically reviews relevant studies, elaborates on the bidirectional interaction mechanism between insomnia and depression, and introduces the improvement of symptoms in comorbid patients by CBT-I combined with external Chinese medicine therapy. At present, the combined therapy has achieved significant efficacy in the treatment of such comorbidities. However, further large-sample, multi-center studies are needed to optimize intervention protocols and enhance its therapeutic effect and application value in this field.