In this blog, Dr. Rogers will review recent research examining the link between mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) and insomnia. The blog will also highlight considerations for treating insomnia with patients who have experienced a MTBI.
When conducting our two-day workshops on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), participants often note that a high percentage of their patients experience or report having sleep difficulties. Participants also note that patients seeking help have often been struggling with these problems for years. As a result, patients can enter into treatment feeling both helpless and hopeless about the possibility of their sleep functioning improving.
Recently we hosted a webinar titled “CDP Presents: Debunking Common Misperceptions about Sleep Interventions” that addressed how as behavioral health professionals we can critically evaluate the regular barrage of claims we hear about sleep “tips” and products. I say critically not necessarily in a pejorative sense – that is, as a disapproval although that may end up being the case – but rather in the sense of approaching claims with a consistent evaluative framework. This kind of approach allows us to compare claims against scientific knowledge and evidence.
You name it, we’ve heard about it. Our sleep consultants regularly come across purported new “solutions” for sleep problems, many of which of course involve only a low, low price. If I sound skeptical, it’s because I am; if a revolutionary cure for sleep problems existed, why do people continue to have problems sleeping? So many of my patients have been convinced something works, but still come in reporting they do not sleep well.
Today you’re meeting a new patient. They present with a history of combat trauma and report significant sleep disturbances including problems falling asleep because they fear they will have another nightmare.
This may feel familiar to you, and there is a good reason for that. Nightmares are incredibly common after a traumatic event, with some estimates suggesting posttraumatic nightmares occur in 90% of patients with PTSD.