Ineffectiveness of Electrosleep in Chronic Primary Insomnia

Seventeen patients with chronic primary insomnia each received 30 daytime electrosleep treatments in two courses at two different pulse frequencies over a seven-week period. The analyses of pretreatment and posttreatment all-night sleep polygraph recordings, sleep questionnaire and mood scale responses, and 24-hour urinary steroid levels did not demonstrate any significant effect in these patients. Future research studies of electrosleep should emphasize effective double-blind techniques, objective measure of evaluation and response, and the careful delineation of patient populations which this new treatment technique may really help.