Sleep disorders and mental health conditions are deeply interrelated, with mounting evidence demonstrating bidirectional relationships between insomnia, poor sleep quality, and conditions such as depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. The World Federation for Mental Health recognizes that addressing sleep disturbance is both a clinical necessity and a public health imperative — not a secondary concern to be addressed only after other conditions have been managed.
A meta-analysis published in Sleep Medicine Reviews (Baglioni et al., 2011) found that insomnia more than doubled the risk of developing depression in previously healthy individuals. Longitudinal studies have further demonstrated that persistent sleep problems are independently associated with suicidal ideation, impaired cognitive function, and reduced quality of life across diverse population groups.
The global prevalence of insomnia is estimated to affect 10 to 30% of the general population, with higher rates documented in clinical populations and older adults. Despite this prevalence, sleep disorders are routinely under-recognised and inadequately managed within existing mental health services — a gap that the World Federation for Mental Health considers both clinically unacceptable and preventable.
Cognitive-behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) has been established as the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia by multiple clinical guidelines, including those from the American College of Physicians (Qaseem et al., 2016) and the European Sleep Research Society. The World Federation for Mental Health supports the wider training of mental health professionals in CBT-I delivery and its systematic integration into routine mental health care pathways.
The World Federation for Mental Health WFMH also highlights the disproportionate use of hypnotic medications in some settings, particularly among older adults. Evidence-based prescribing guidelines consistently prioritize psychological over pharmacological interventions as a first approach, and WFMH calls on health systems to align clinical practice with this evidence without delay.