Insomina is a condition where people have significant difficulty with sleep. The main symptoms of insomnia are having a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep which makes it hard to fully function during the day. Unfortunately, insomnia is currently fairly common in our society with 30% of adults reporting some symptoms of it.
The good news is that insomnia is very treatable. When it comes to treatment, comparative effectiveness studies reveal that sleep medications are not the best treatment. Instead, several clinical trials have found that the most popular sleep medications, such as Ambien and Lunesta, have been outperformed by CBT for insomnia (CBT-I). Currently, the American College of Physicians recommends CBT-I as the first-line treatment for insomnia.
So what is CBT-I? Generally speaking, CBT-I addresses sleep habits and behaviors. The cognitive part of CBT-I focuses on how to recognize and change beliefs that negatively impact the ability to sleep. This may include learning how to modify, control, accept, or eliminate negative thoughts and worries that keep people awake. The behavioral part of CBT-I helps to develop good sleep habits and avoid behaviors that interfere with restful sleep.
We offer CBT-I at our practice. This tends to be a very short-term treatment, on average 6-8 sessions.
