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Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Nov 19, 2025; 15(11): 108630
Published online Nov 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i11.108630
Behavioral analysis of insomnia sufferers to acupuncture treatment
Brandon Lucke-Wold, Himika D Salam, Gnaneswari Karayi
Brandon Lucke-Wold, Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, United States
Himika D Salam, Department of Zoology, Manipur University, Imphal 795003, Manipur, India
Gnaneswari Karayi, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence RI, 02903, United States
Author contributions: Lucke-Wold B contributed to the overall concept and design of the manuscript; Salam HD contributed to the illustrations; Salam HD and Karayi G contributed to the editing of the manuscript and literature review; and all authors thoroughly reviewed and endorsed the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Himika D Salam, Lecturer, Department of Zoology, Manipur University, Indo-Myanmar Road, Canchipur, Imphal 795003, Manipur, India. himikasalam6@gmail.com
Received: April 21, 2025
Revised: June 27, 2025
Accepted: October 9, 2025
Published online: November 19, 2025
Processing time: 199 Days and 1.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This medical-sociological interdisciplinary study examines factors influencing insomnia patients’ decisions to engage in acupuncture, utilizing the capability, opportunity, motivation - behavior model and theoretical domain framework. Key facilitators of patients’ pursuit of acupuncture include cultural beliefs, concerns about dependence on hypnotic medications, and encouragement from trusted opinion leaders, whereas barriers include limited knowledge, accessibility challenges, and needle phobia. The findings underscore the multifaceted nature of this decision, which is shaped by treatment efficacy, cultural context, economic factors, and communication dynamics. Recommendations for clinicians and policymakers include enhancing patient education, improving treatment accessibility through public health measures, fostering effective physician-patient communication, and addressing needle phobia through cognitive interventions to optimize treatment adherence and outcomes.