Blog posts with the tag "Staff Perspective"

Staff Perspective: Why We Don’t Recommend Wearable Sleep Trackers for the Assessment and Treatment of Insomnia Disorder

Dr. Carin Lefkowitz

Recently I consulted on a case where a client with insomnia insisted on tracking her sleep with a wearable monitor (think Fitbit or Apple Watch).She soon realized that her sleep tracker was actually increasing her anxiety about sleep. She became more aware of every toss and turn during the night. Ultimately, the client decided to forego the tracker and use only a paper sleep log each night and morning. Her anxiety decreased overnight (pun intended) and she starting falling asleep faster and staying asleep longer.

Staff Perspective: Understanding Symptom Specific Effects of Cognitive Therapy and Behavior Therapy for Insomnia

Newer research is examining not just the overall effect of treatment strategies for insomnia, but how certain approaches may produce different symptom specific effects during the course of treatment. The purpose of this blog will be to review the theory, interventions, and research findings about how these treatment approaches may produce symptom specific effects during the course of insomnia treatment.

Staff Perspective: A Discussion with Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock on Moral Distress and Helping COVID-19 Healthcare Workers

Dr. Deb Nofziger

Dr. Rita Brock recently shared her thoughts on moral distress and injury and COVID-19 frontline workers with me. Dr. Brock has spent much of her career as an academic in philosophy and religion, obtaining her doctorate in this field in 1988. Her interests turned toward moral injury after a 2009 article by Dr. Brett Litz “grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go.”

Staff Perspective: Let’s talk about Melatonin!

Melatonin is a hormone that is naturally found in the body. It is produced synthetically in the laboratory and is available in pill form as well as forms that can be absorbed under the tongue or through the cheek. However, before we talk about the role of melatonin in sleep, let’s talk about what it’s NOT for. So many of the patients I work with on sleep issues describe taking melatonin on a regular basis, every night before bed. Melatonin is not a sedative. It is not sleep inducing and it does not share any of the properties of prescription or over-the-counter sleep aids

Staff Perspective: Are You A Short Sleeper – Or Just Sleep Deprived?

A number of my military patients – and likely your patients, too, judging by the consultation requests we see – seem to have gotten so used to the effects of getting insufficient sleep they wonder if they don’t really need much sleep. Maybe they’re just short sleepers, they wonder; maybe there’s no need to change their sleep habits

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