Not sleeping well? I can help you.  

Most people have times in their lives when they can’t sleep well. Temporary insomnia is actually common. But it can become a problem when you start to worry about sleep, seek out “sleep tips” and short-term medication (over the counter and/or prescription), and start to even accept insomnia as a regular part of life.

When it becomes a problem, it just feels awful. Your brain seems unable to shut down, and going to bed is something you don’t welcome.

If you’re not sleeping well, I’m actually excited that you’re here, reading this, because you may be ready to try cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, CBT-I, recognized as the best treatment available for sleep problems, surpassing medication in efficacy.

If you’ve tried calming apps and general sleep advice, it’s time to move on, because those things have limited benefits, and can sometimes leave you feeling hopeless because they don’t work. If you’re feeling guilty and trapped by prescription sleep medication and other sleep aids, it can be wonderful to build confidence in your own ability to manage sleep and no longer rely on medication. The goal of my treatment is to help you get more good-quality sleep, and to no longer worry so much about sleep.

What’s this treatment like?

The first step is a thorough assessment so that we can figure out your specific problem areas. This involves three things: 1. an interview so I can learn what you’re most concerned about,  2. some questionnaires and psychological measures to assess your attitudes and worries about sleep and how it affects other areas of your life, and 3. a sleep diary so that I can learn, hour by hour, what one week of sleep is like for you. You’ll keep a sleep diary during the one-week assessment phase, and you’ll continue to keep the sleep diary throughout treatment.

The second step is the actual treatment, which will involve making changes to your sleep schedule, including some changes you may not expect. For most people, part of CBT-I requires them to sleep less than they usually would like, which can be difficult in the short term. Treatment also addresses the “middle of the night” thinking that can go on, your worry about sleep, how to manage tension in your body, and how to cope with doubts about your own ability to change something you thought was unchangeable. 

A sleep diary? Asking me to change my sleep schedule? Isn’t that a lot of work?

Many things about CBT-I are a lot of work, I’m not going to sugar coat it. But I’ll teach you ways to stick with it, and motivate you to do things that you’d normally not do on your own, so that you can sleep. You’re going to be doing hard work, and I’ll be helping you do it. You’ll be sending me your sleep diary every week, and we can touch base between sessions during particularly difficult weeks. The bottom line: CBT-I does require significant time and commitment, but research shows that the benefits can be worth it, and I’ll do my best to help you get those benefits.  

How long does CBT-I take?

CBT-I is considered to be a relatively brief treatment. Studies suggest that there’s usually noticeably better sleep within ten weeks. The best part, though, is that when people are followed-up long after treatment, it’s found that their gains are maintained, and even exceeded. What does this mean? It means that people become experts themselves and use that expertise to make even further gains on their own. That said, after treatment, it’s always possible to have a “booster” session to help with new issues, which can uphold and strengthen your new way of regarding sleep. No matter how long it takes, if you put in the work, I’ll support you all the way.

Can I continue to take sleep medication while I’m undergoing CBT-I?

You can. However, you’ll be learning new skills, and experiencing sleep in a different and healthier way, and so you may feel confident enough to reduce or eliminate the use of sleep medications during the course of CBT-I. I’ll work with your prescribing physician to ensure that reduced use of sleep medication is safe and effective.

Who can benefit from CBT-I?

If you’re someone struggling with sleep, and are motivated to change, guess what, you probably can benefit! It used to be thought that people who had pre-existing medical and mental health conditions needed to have those conditions resolved, and then their sleep problems would resolve. This is no longer the predominant view in sleep medicine. People with pain, depression, and other conditions, benefit from successful treatment of sleep problems. Simply put, science now validates what a lot of us knew all along: sleeping better helps everything else. Also, the confidence that comes from managing sleep problems cannot be overstated. For this reason, athletes and professionals who want to be at their best also are great candidates for CBT-I, because self-knowledge about managing sleep can be a great advantage.

CBT-I is not recommended for people who have untreated sleep apnea, or are in an acute phase of illness or life change.