Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders. It is a psycho-physiological condition that evolves as a result of physical, environmental, emotional and behavioural factors that interact together to negatively influence your sleeping pattern and daytime functioning. It will have little or nothing to do with an original triggering event (for example, a bereavement or defining life event). Insomnia can be ‘acute’ or ‘chronic’. Acute means short-term. Chronic means something that has been around for a long time or constantly recurring.

Difficulty initiating sleep, maintaining sleep, and/or waking up too early. This pattern tends to occur 3 days a week and for at least 3 months. It can eventually impact on daytime functioning; you may struggle with attention, concentration, low energy and motivation, tired all the time and irritability.

Research indicates that when insomnia has been around for a long time, it is not likely to go away without intervention.

CBT-I stands for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Insomnia which is the gold standard treatment intervention for chronic Insomnia as recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines. NICE guidelines are evidence-based recommendations for health and care in England.

CBT-I focuses on improving both the quality and quantity of your sleep relative to your age and body needs. Each session includes working with an experienced practitioner who will offer a structured psycho-educational program and guided tasks that you will be required to put into practice between sessions. You will also be asked to keep a daily sleep diary which will be reviewed at the start of each session. The more consistent you are at implementing the strategies the more likely you will build your confidence in your capacity to sleep and feel better in the day longer term.

The number of sessions can vary between 3 to 8. One to one sessions tend to be 60 minutes. Our group program offers 90 minute weekly sessions for 5 consecutive weeks with a follow-up appointment at 3 months.

This intervention is about equipping you with evidence based strategies that you will be able to implement for the long term. CBT-I has been shown to be helpful for 70-80% of adults with lasting effects. We offer everyone a 3 month follow-up over the telephone. Research has shown that group CBT-I is also effective and we strongly recommend this over one-to-one.

Yes there might be, but these tend to be short-lived. When you are ready to implement the strategies you may find that you start to feel sleepy in the day which is largely a good sign that the treatment is working. However, for most people these are temporary. We would therefore suggest that you consider careful planning of activities or occupation demands with more regular breaks across your day.

There are no conclusive research trials that indicate that self management strategies alone, such as, ‘will power’, lavender sprays, chamomile tea, warm milk, and so on, are effective at treating Insomnia. Insomnia very rarely improves by sleep hygiene alone.

An alarm clock, a calculator, a notebook, a weekly time slot to meet in the week and a sleep diary. A sleep diary will be provided. If meeting online you will need a confidential space, good internet connection and access to an online platform such as Zoom. If meeting on the telephone make sure you have good reception and in all cases are in a confidential distraction-free/private environment. Your host will send you a link to the session which is free to use. Please visit https://zoom.us/ for more information.

Yes of course. The session will contain an optional standard break half way through.

Psychologists are not medically trained. They do not prescribe medication. However, they do have an understanding of sleep supplements and medication such as melatonin and hypnotics (British National Formulary). In some cases, they can work with you and your prescribing doctor to reduce your sleep medication safely alongside the CBT-I.

Both prescribed and over the counter medications can cause insomnia. You are advised to talk to your GP or prescriber especially if you are taking many different types. Ask them if these can lead to sleep problems.

Everyone is offered a brief free screening call (15 minutes). This will allow us to meet, hear a little bit about your difficulties and current circumstances. You will also be able to ask questions. If we feel we may be able to support you we will recommend an initial assessment by a consultant in sleep medicine or by a clinical psychologist. An initial assessment is a mandatory part of the process following the good practice guidelines. Please note initial assessment does not guarantee an intervention.

All patients are invited to sign a Terms of Service document and consent form. If you are not able to attend an appointment we will be happy to cancel. Please give as much notice as possible but you must follow the boundaries set out in the agreement.

Your information is kept confidential. This is only ever broken if as clinicians we are concerned about your safety or the safety of anybody else. Group CBT-I includes additional set of terms (that is, Group Ground Rules). Each member must read, acknowledge and sign these before joining. We can never be 100% sure our information is kept secure but we take as many steps as we can to ensure containment. Please read our Privacy Policy.

We don't advise sleep trackers for people with insomnia as these can further perpetuate preoccupation over sleep (known as 'Orthosomnia'). Health trackers may well support other pillars of health but sleep does not need this level of attention and monitoring unless it's for a specific reason, such as, for research purposes or if this data is requested by a specialist sleep clinic using a highly calibrated device they have given you. Day to day we don't advise checking sleep.

Start with the NICE guidelines and we will add more soon...