Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is a form of psychotherapy that helps people change their thoughts about sleep and behaviors that affect sleep. It is the most effective, non-drug treatment for chronic insomnia. The goal of CBT-I is to help you learn to change any thoughts or behaviors that may be contributing to your insomnia, so that you can get a better night’s sleep. You will work with your therapist one-on-one on goals to improve your sleep and make sure you feel comfortable with the things you learn during therapy. Your therapist will also give you suggestions for changing the behaviors and thoughts that may be keeping you from sleeping well.
You should start to feel better within about a month, but it’s important to practice the skills you learn in CBT-I every day for at least two months after you finish therapy. The first part of CBT-I helps teach you how to go to bed and wake up at the same times every day, even on weekends and vacation days. This helps keep your body’s clock set at the right time.
This workbook guides you through all the steps of CBT-I using examples from real life. It makes sure that your thinking and behavior are closely related to what’s happening in your daily life right now. If something in your life changes, this workbook will help you adjust your thinking and behavior to match what’s going on in real life. This helps make sure that the treatment keeps working for you even when things change in the rest of your life.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is a highly effective treatment for insomnia, the most common sleep disorder. The goal of CBT-I is to change your behaviors and thoughts about sleep, which will in turn help you fall asleep and stay asleep. This manual was written to help you become familiar with the types of therapy you will be receiving during your treatment and to encourage you to participate actively in your own recovery.
The first part of this manual will give you some background information on insomnia, including its causes, symptoms, and consequences. This section will also explain how CBT-I is used to treat insomnia, its benefits, and what you can expect during treatment. The second section of this manual describes the different types of CBT-I that are available, including sleep restriction therapy and stimulus control methods. Finally, the third section provides some simple tips that may help you prepare for treatment as well as self-help resources that may be helpful after therapy ends.
When you have insomnia, your body has trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, which means you’re not getting the restful sleep your body needs. You might feel tired during the day, or have trouble concentrating or remembering things. You might also have other health problems because of it—for example, if you’re trying to treat your insomnia by drinking a lot of coffee, you might also be feeling jittery throughout the day.
Insomnia can be caused by a number of things: stress, depression, medical conditions like asthma or arthritis, lifestyle factors like working late nights or being in an abusive relationship, even something as simple as sleeping in a room that’s too hot or too cold. Whatever is causing your insomnia, CBT-I can help you overcome it so that your body gets the rest it needs.
The goal of CBT-I is to make small changes in how you think about and act toward your insomnia so that over time, those small changes add up to big improvements in how well you sleep. You don’t have to start by making big changes.
Insomnia is a sleep disorder in which a person has difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. People with insomnia may wake up frequently during the night, have trouble going back to sleep, or wake up too early in the morning. Insomnia can be short term (transient) or long lasting (chronic). It can also be primary (due to other causes) or secondary (due to another condition). Insomnia is more common in women than in men, and it usually occurs in people over age 60.
Primary insomnia means that a person is having sleep problems that are not directly associated with any other health condition or problem.
Secondary insomnia means that a person is having sleep problems because of something else, such as a health condition (like asthma, depression, arthritis, cancer, or heartburn); pain; medication they are taking; or a substance they are using (like alcohol).
Transient insomnia lasts for less than a week. It can be caused by another illness, changes in the sleep environment, extreme temperatures, time zone changes, or stress.