Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions In Insomnia

Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders/disturbances.

It is a condition where in a person has difficulty in falling asleep or difficulty in maintaining sleep or once sleep is broken it doesn’t come again. These sleep disturbances are very common among general population. In India approximately 10% of population suffers from insomnia. Insomnia can occur in many conditions. Medical issues can also give rise to insomnia. Clinical evidence indicates that stress and life challenges are the most common causes of insomnia. Continuous sleep impairment significantly effects one’s biological, psychological and social functions. It can cause muscle strain, headache, disturbed tummy, appetite issues, impaired attention and concentration, memory problems, impaired judgment, irritability, anger, impaired academic and work-related problems, interpersonal issues, and impaired social functioning. It is very important to consult a physician or any mental health professional like psychiatrist, clinical psychologist to get oneself thoroughly evaluated for getting best treatment for this. Mental health professionals like Clinical Psychologists are actively involved in its treatment. The mode of treatment utilized by them is non drug based and depends on psychological techniques focusing on their cognitions/thoughts, behaviors and emotions. With adequate psychological interventions from a qualified clinical psychologist, sleep disturbance shows significant improvement. Some of the important techniques in cognitive-behavioral intervention for sleep disturbances are:

Sleep Education: It means getting basic information about sleep from a scientific perspective including the amount of sleep required by adults. Generally it has been found that 6-7 hour of sleep is adequate for most of us. However individual differences are found in that. Some may need a bit more than this and some feel fine even by getting less than this.