Even one night of poor sleep can have significant impact on our well-being and functioning. Prolonged poor sleep can lead to feelings of anxiety and depression as well as health problems. Poor sleep can also occur because of current anxiety, depression and medical problems. In treating sleep difficulties it is important to fully assess what stresses are occurring in the individual’s life. This can include positive events as well such as an up-coming wedding or planned travel. It is also important to know how the individual interprets their poor sleep. One of the major causes of poor sleep, otherwise known as insomnia is a fear of not getting to sleep, which could have started innocently enough from a short period of disrupted sleep.

Insomnia is the most commonly reported sleep disorder. It is defined as an inability to fall asleep or enjoy uninterrupted sleep. Individuals with insomnia can experience persistent difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, resulting in poor quality sleep that affects their day-to-day functioning. Most people will experience insomnia or sleeplessness at one time or another in their lives. Persistent or chronic insomnia is when sleep disturbance lasts longer than three months. For some people this can be years (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th ed, 2013).

At Integrative Psychology we fully assess the individual, including gathering a thorough medical and psychological history. We treat insomnia according to what events both external and internal to the person may have triggered the insomnia including trauma, grief and loss, medical and psychological illness, and chronic pain. We also help the individual to develop good sleep habits and more broadly a healthy lifestyle to optimise well-being.