What should I be cau­tious about when trea­ting pati­ents with bipo­lar, psy­cho­tic dis­or­ders, or unsta­ble soma­tic con­di­ti­ons?

Spe­cial cau­ti­on is requi­red when trea­ting pati­ents with bipo­lar or psy­cho­tic dis­or­ders, as well as tho­se with unsta­ble soma­tic ill­nes­ses. Sleep depri­va­ti­on (a side effect of bedti­me rest­ric­tion) can trig­ger chan­ges in mood epi­so­des or decom­pen­sa­ti­on. In the­se cases, bedti­me rest­ric­tion should be approa­ched cau­tious­ly and clo­se­ly moni­to­red. It should be empha­si­zed, that the pro­gram does not aim to redu­ce total sleep time, but rather to redu­ce unp­lea­sant time in bed, ther­eby pro­mo­ting better—and pos­si­bly even longer—sleep.