What is Insomnia?
Insomnia is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) as having difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, and waking earlier than desired at least three nights a week, for at least three months. In other words, it is a condition where individuals struggle to get enough restful, peaceful sleep. Lack of restful, quality sleep results in daytime sleepiness and fatigue, which can impair peoples' ability to meet the demands and needs of their work, family, and social life. Insomnia is a relatively common experience, with 10% of Australians diagnosed with this condition.
What causes Insomnia?
The causes and risk factors for insomnia are multivarious, ranging from genetics, hormones, lifestyle, and mental health disorders, just to name a few. Insomnia often starts off as individuals struggling to fall asleep and/or not sleeping for long and having disrupted sleep. This can lead to the development of anxiety and stress around not getting enough sleep. This can in turn make it even more difficult for people to get to sleep. This cycle can be very distressing and can become self-perpetuating. Often reducing the anxiety around sleep can help reinstate regular sleeping patterns.
Insomnia and Mental Health
Mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, are often accompanied by insomnia, while insomnia can also increase likelihood of developing mental health challenges, even leading to suicidal ideation. This bidirectional relationship between insomnia and mental health increases the need for treatment and support for those struggling with their sleep.
Sleep has been found to play various key roles that explain why a lack of sleep can impact our mental health. One such role is emotional regulation. A lack of sleep can lead to people being more sensitive to stressful stimuli, in particular emotional stressors. This can mean that not only are everyday stressors more difficult to overcome, but also bigger life stressors can begin to feel unmanageable. Feelings of depression and anxiety can then arise from this emotional dysregulation.
Treatment options for insomnia
There are some pharmacological treatments that can help improve sleep for those with insomnia, however, one of the gold-standard treatments for insomnia is currently Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia, aka CBTi. CBTi aims to address both the thought loops and anxiety, as well as the behaviours that can often manifest for those with insomnia. Beliefs and fears around sleep, or lack thereof, can perpetuate behaviours and patterns that reinforce disturbed sleep. CBTi offers a framework to address this vicious cycle.
A psychodynamic approach aims to consider why an individual with insomnia is struggling with their sleep in the first place. Some questions that may be asked are as follows. What insight does the individual’s history offer about the current presentation? What relationship did the individual have with sleep when they were a child? Did a traumatic event first ignite a disturbed sleeping pattern? These questions allow the individual and practitioner to delve deeper into the causes and perpetuating factors of insomnia. Such questions help to elucidate, "Why this presentation in this individual at this time"? Not only can this help with developing more restful sleep and a reduction in insomnia symptoms, but there is also the opportunity for this exploration and insight to lead to healing and resilience in other areas of the individual’s life.
How The Spring Clinic can help
If you are struggling with insomnia or your mental health is being impacted by disrupted sleep, we have wonderful practitioners at The Spring Clinic who can help guide exploration, insight, and action toward recovering restful sleep, reducing insomnia symptoms, as well as cultivating mental wellbeing. If you are interested in working with someone from our team or you would like to discuss who might be a good fit for you, feel free to get in touch via the ‘Contact Us’ section of our website.
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