Therapy for Insomnia
I love helping people who can’t sleep.
Chronic insomnia can seem like an impossible mystery when you have it.
It is an absolute joy for me to help clients escape the insomnia spiral and find the peaceful sleep that they have been searching for.
Insomnia is treatable.
What if you have the worst case of insomnia ever? Most of my clients have had insomnia for years, even decades. Many of my clients come to therapy thinking they have the worst case of insomnia ever because they have been comparing themselves to people who don’t have insomnia.
When you’ve had insomnia for a long time, it’s never far from your mind. The only thing harder than not being able to sleep at night is having to get through the next day. If you rely on your intellect for work, you are acutely aware of how much harder it is to think, speak and write clearly when you are sleep deprived.
The painful experience of trying to get by on not enough sleep fuels the search for solutions. When your diligent efforts to improve your sleep do not seem to go anywhere, it contributes to a sense of futility and hopelessness about insomnia. Over time the repetition of effort and disappointment can start to erode your sense of of competence in other areas of your life.
Therapy for insomnia starts with education, in particular, answering the question of “Why is this happening to me?” Once you understand the factors that have been fueling insomnia, I will offer you a menu of simple, effective treatments, and support you as you work to put them into practice. Being in therapy for insomnia is very different from trying to solve it on your own, because I have the training and objectivity to help you understand and solve any issues that you run into. It’s easy to get discouraged when you have insomnia, so it’s crucial to have someone on your side who can help you see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Email me to set up a free 15 minute phone consultation. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
Contact me via email: mstevenstherapy@protonmail.com
Therapy for Insomnia
An Overview
The right information can help you sleep.
When we work together, I will give you information about sleep and insomnia that is actually relevant to your life and your needs. This will help you feel less alone, less afraid, and more hopeful about your ability to sleep.
In my experience, most popular advice about sleep seems perfectly designed to keep people with insomnia hopeless and awake. Almost everything you encounter begins by stating “Sleep is very important to your health.” This can feel like adding insult to injury, because if you have insomnia, you know better than anyone that sleep is important!
Then come lists of scary medical conditions that are linked to poor sleep, which is the last thing you want to read about at 3:00 am. I will help you differentiate between information that you need to know, and remote possibilities that are irrelevant to getting a good night’s rest.
Let’s make a plan.
We will create a customized plan based on your unique needs and experiences to help you break free from the insomnia spiral. Each plan is a combination of education, behavioral experiments, and evaluation of the thoughts and emotions that are particular to insomnia, and specific to you. Treatment for insomnia requires a commitment on your part. I will be there to support you each step of the way.
We will track your progress and help you rediscover your ability to sleep. We use objective measures of sleep that can help you actually see progress and make adjustments. If you take medications for sleep, we work with your doctor to decide how and when we taper your medication. And remember, you don’t need to stop medication before starting treatment.
For many people, therapy for insomnia takes eight weekly sessions. Some people find relief before that, while other people need a slower pace. Everyone is different, and I strive to match the pace of treatment to your needs.
You can sleep.
At the end of treatment, you will be sleeping better, feeling confident, and equipped with tools and knowledge to stay on track. Clients tell me that one of the best things about recovery from insomnia is not having to think about sleep anymore! They have much more time and energy to focus on other areas of life that are important to them.
Contact me via email to schedule a 15 minute phone consultation: mstevenstherapy@protonmail.com