Sleep and mental health are directly related. Sleep is essential for mental health as it helps the brain with mood regulation, focus, cognition, and more. Lack of quality sleep can bring about both mental and physical symptoms that can make performing daily tasks more challenging and can make maintaining mental well-being more difficult. Many people, specifically people struggling with mental health issues, find it hard to get a good night’s rest. So, identifying things you can do to get better quality sleep is essential for mental health.

Fortunately, there are a few tips and tricks you can learn if you’re not finding yourself getting the best sleep. Using these tips can help you learn how to set up a sleep routine that works for you in order to get the most and highest quality sleep you can. Some tips for getting better sleep include:

Setting a Schedule for Sleeping and Waking Hours

Setting a schedule for sleep can help you keep a routine that allows your body to better understand when sleeping and waking hours are. Sleeping at different times of the day and night can interfere with your circadian rhythm, which is an alignment of sleep and wake times that are associated with day and night. So, when you continuously go to bed at night and get up in the day, your body will associate those times with sleeping and waking and it will be easier to go to sleep and get up. Setting a sleep schedule can include going to bed at a certain time every night and getting up at the same time every morning. To help set a schedule, you can set alarms an hour or half hour before bedtime so that you can begin to wind down and get ready for bed. You can also set an alarm to wake up every morning and, since you’ll be getting enough sleep, it will be easier to wake.

Find Relaxation Strategies That Work for You

Everyone winds down in their own way. Finding a way to relax before bedtime can help your brain and body get ready for sleep. Relaxation plays a big part in slowing down your mind and body so that it can get the sleep it needs. So, if you’re struggling with sleep issues, it can be helpful to find relaxation techniques that work for you. Some suggestions include meditation, yoga, bubble baths, and reading.

Get Your Exercise On

Exercise has a number of mental health benefits as it can help to manage and reduce stress levels and even help with mood management. But, along with mental health benefits, it can also help with sleep. Regular exercise can help promote sleep by stimulating the release of hormones that can help you fall asleep. And, it can tire the body out, making it more easy to fall and stay asleep.

Avoid Caffeine Before Bed

Caffeine is a legal substance that is put into a number of drinks like teas, sodas, and coffees that stimulate the brain to be more awake. So, if you consume caffeine it can be helpful to your sleep schedule to steer clear of it a few hours before bedtime. While we all like our morning cup of coffee, try skipping that afternoon cup so that you can wind down a bit earlier.

Sleep and Mental Health – Consider CBT Protocol for Sleep Disturbance

Some people have trouble sleeping no matter what type of tips they utilize. Fortunately, there is still hope for getting good sleep with techniques like CBT for sleep disturbance. CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy, is a tool that involves one-on-one counseling sessions to determine emotions and thought patterns that lead to unwanted behaviors (including sleep). CBT for sleep can help people who are struggling with sleep disorders identify coping strategies for emotions and intrusive thought patterns that are keeping them from getting healthy amounts of sleep.

Synchrony Brain Health offers CBT protocol for sleep disturbances on an outpatient basis at our Evanston, IL location. Find out more about this service right on our website.

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a mental health issue that affects mothers all over the globe. Struggling with the impacts of this type of depression can be debilitating to everyday life and keep mothers from caring for themselves and their children. So, it’s important for individuals affected by this mood disorder to consider postpartum depression treatment options that are best suited to their needs and expectations. Here at Synchrony Brain Health, we offer ketamine therapy as an effective and safe postpartum depression treatment option for those who qualify. Find out more about ketamine therapy to determine if this treatment is right for you.

What is Postpartum Depression?

If you’ve had children or are planning to have children, you may have heard something called the “baby blues”, which refers to experiencing feelings of sadness after giving birth. But, postpartum depression is more than just feelings of sadness. Postpartum depression is a type of depressive disorder that occurs in women after they’ve given birth to a child that comes with serious, debilitating symptoms that can be dangerous. It’s thought to develop as the result of changing hormones that occur after giving birth. It can develop suddenly and come with more serious symptoms than just feeling sad or overwhelmed, which is normal for mothers who have just given birth.

Symptoms of Postpartum Depression

Recognizing the symptoms of postpartum depression is the first step to getting help. Identifying symptoms of postpartum depression can help you better identify this mood disorder in your life or the life of a loved one. Some of the symptoms of postpartum depression can include:

• sudden and severe mood swings
• aggression and irritation
• inability to bond with the newborn
• severe anxiety
• feelings of inadequacy

Addressing the Problems with Traditional Treatments for PPD

While there are effective treatments for postpartum depression including SSRIs and other antidepressant prescription medications, not everyone who is living with PPD may want to utilize these medications. This is because these medications often interfere with breastfeeding as the medications can become present in breast milk. Furthermore, prescription medications may take weeks to kick in and experience results. This may not be the best option for people who need immediate help and symptom reduction. Finally, not every person who utilizes traditional treatments for PPD experience symptom relief. So, these medications may not be right for every person who is diagnosed with PPD. For all of these reasons, traditional treatments for postpartum depression shouldn’t and can’t be the only option for treatment.

Ketamine Therapies as an Alternative for Postpartum Depression Treatment

Ketamine is a medication that can help to alleviate symptoms of many types of depression, including postpartum depression. There are a number of reasons many patients diagnosed with this type of depression may consider ketamine therapies including:

• ketamine won’t affect a person’s breastmilk
• it is safe to use and ketamine treatment uses low levels of ketamine – even lower than used in other medical settings
• treatments are available on an outpatient basis, making it easier for mothers to get help
• symptom relief can happen immediately and long-lasting

Considering Ketamine Therapy for Postpartum Depression at Synchrony Brain Health

Synchrony Brain Health offers ketamine infusion therapy for people struggling with the effects of postpartum depression on an outpatient basis. You can find out more about this treatment and whether or not you may be a good candidate on our website or by reaching out by calling 866-364-2300 today.

Synchrony Brain Health is constantly working towards improving mental health and chronic pain treatments by focusing on brain-based approaches. When we gear our focus to treatment that involves approaching the way the brain works, we can address mental health and chronic pain issues where they start – the brain. Neurofeedback therapy is a brain-based approach to treatment for a number of mental and neurological health issues that is non-invasive, requires no medication, and has minimal to no side effects. In this article, we dive into what neurofeedback is, how it works, and the benefits this type of treatment offers to people looking for symptom management for a number of conditions.

What is Neurofeedback Therapy?

Neurofeedback is a therapy approach that uses brain monitoring paired with biofeedback to determine how to better train the brain in order to manage symptoms of both mental health issues and chronic pain. Essentially, during sessions, brain maps provide real-time images of electrical signaling happening in the brain. Then, these images are shown to the patient and the patient is provided with a variety of exercises intended to help retrain the brain to react differently to various stimuli. Thus eventually, helping patients better understand how their brain works and even prepare their brain to better function and self-regulate when faced with things like stress, trauma triggers, pain, etc.

How Does Neurofeedback Work?

Neurofeedback works by retraining the brain using brain mapping brought to imaging through an EEG machine. Basically, patients are seated or laid back in a comfortable chair while the EEG sensors are placed on their scalp. These sensors are able to pick up brainwave activities which are placed onto a computer for imaging. Patients can view the changes in their brainwave activity and attempt to retrain them by using audio and visual stimuli for example, with music or games shown on screen.

During sessions, individuals learn how to recognize brain activity that is common throughout various symptoms of mental health. For instance, patients can use neurofeedback to recognize how their brain reacts when it’s stressed, relaxed, or concentrated. When patients can better recognize various brain functions and how they associate with mental states, they can better manage the symptoms of their mental health conditions and change the way their brain responds to triggering situations.

Benefits of Neurofeedback

There are a number of benefits to using neurofeedback as a tool for mental health including:

• better quality of sleep
• reduced levels of stress or anxiety
• better concentration
• mood management

Utilizing Neurofeedback Therapy to Improve Your Mental Health

Synchrony Brain Health offers neurofeedback for patients who want to benefit from this non-invasive approach to therapy. If you are wanting to better understand how to self-regulate emotions and behaviors tied to mental health issues, neurofeedback may be right for you. Find out more about our brain-based approaches to treating mental health issues and our neurofeedback sessions from our website.

dTMS, or deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, is an FDA-approved treatment that focuses on a neuroscience approach to addressing symptoms associated with a variety of mental health and chronic pain issues. While this treatment is relatively novel, the success rates of dTMS are having people who may benefit from this type of neuroscience approach wonder what they can expect during sessions. So, what actually happens during dTMS sessions and what can a person expect from using this type of treatment?

Your First dTMS Treatment Session

Once you are deemed qualified to use dTMS, you can expect to schedule your first session. During this session, a qualified dTMS specialist will guide you through the brain mapping process. Brain mapping is a technique that is conducted by using a device much like an EEG which works to map out how your brain is functioning. It’s completely harmless and you can expect the specialist to place small monitoring applications around your scalp to conduct the session. You may be asked questions during the session to get your brain to respond in various ways so these can be recorded on the monitoring device.

Brain mapping is a crucial part of the dTMS process as it sets a baseline in order to showcase progress after sessions are concluded. And, it can help to show the dTMS specialist areas of your brain that aren’t functioning as they should, resulting in various symptoms. Thus, allowing your specialist to gain information of how to conduct dTMS sessions to best suit your needs and provide successful outcomes.

Identifying How dTMS Works

It can be helpful for people who are considering dTMS to better understand how it works. A dTMS device uses magnets to send stimulating pulses into the brain which works to balance areas of the brain that are under or over-performing, leading to mental health or chronic pain symptoms. This magnetic stimulation can bring the brain back to functioning at a base level which can help to resolve debilitating symptoms and improve mental and physical well-being.

Who Can dTMS Help?

There are a variety of symptoms and issues that dTMS can help with including:

• Treatment-resistant depression
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Bipolar disorder
• Longterm Covid symptoms
• Substance use disorder
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Chronic pain conditions (fibromyalgia, MS, etc.)

Some More Information to Know About dTMS

Undoubtedly, you may have more questions about what to expect from dTMS therapy. Some important facts to know about dTMS include:

It’s Non-Invasive: There is no pain experienced with dTMS therapy sessions. There is a small percentage of patients who experience headaches or sensitivity to the scalp after sessions, but this is rare and only a temporary side effect. TMS doesn’t require any medications, surgical procedures, or even any downtime.

It’s Safe: If you are qualified for dTMS, it is very safe. There are very few side effects and the ones that are experienced are very rare. So, you don’t have to worry about experiencing any adverse reactions.

It’s Outpatient: One of the great things about TMS therapies is that they can be conducted on an outpatient basis. That means that you can come to get dTMS on your own time and schedule it around your schooling or work hours.

dTMS Available at Synchrony Brain Health

Synchrony Brain Health offers brain-based, neuroscience approaches to treating a number of mental health and chronic pain disorders. Here, we offer outpatient dTMS sessions for people who are qualified. Find out more about our dTMS services and our clinic from our website.

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, which is a widely used therapy that helps individuals living with a wide range of mental health symptoms. But, as this therapy grows in popularity and use, more people are wondering, “Does EMDR work and would it for me?”. Knowing more about a therapy that could possibly help you and whether or not you are a good candidate is a good place to start when considering any mental health therapy option, including EMDR.

More About What EMDR Is – Does EMDR Work?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a type of therapy that was developed to help people living with the negative effects of traumatic experiences and PTSD. But, after many years, it has been determined that EMDR can help people living with other mental health issues as well as it can assist with dealing with negative emotions that are developed as the result of a variety of mental health disorders. It can help people to process their feelings and thoughts as they affect their mental health and deal with them in a healthy way, assisting with making progress and meeting goals during mental treatment.

Essentially, EMR works by having a therapist guide an individual through traumatic events and identifying the causes of negative emotions during sessions. Then, while processing memories that relate to negative emotions, patients are asked to move their eyes laterally by following an object or the therapist’s fingers. These eye movements are believed to associate with eye movements in REM sleep. Thus, helping to convert negative memories and emotions into something more available to process mentally. As a result, patients who use EMDR are able to process their trauma and negative emotions as a result of mental health issues in a more manageable way.

Who Can Benefit From EMDR Therapy?

When considering mental health therapy options, it’s best to identify whether or not you could benefit from the therapies you are considering. Not all mental health treatments work to help with all mental health issues. And, different people may benefit from mental health therapies in different ways. Basically, EMDR can help people better process the negative emotions that are associated with traumatic events and memories. It helps people to change negative thoughts associated with these traumatic memories into more positive ones in order to better manage symptoms of PTSD and other negative effects that come about as the result of these experiences.

Furthermore, mental health issues can often develop as a result of experiencing trauma. So, people living with a number of issues and mental health conditions can benefit from using EMDR including people who are living with:

• Anxiety disorders
• PTSD
• OCD
• Personality disorders
• Grief
• Depressive disorders

Is EMDR Therapy Right for You?

EMDR therapy is a great tool to utilize, especially in combination with other mental health approaches. All kinds of people may benefit from EMDR therapy, and there is no one kind of candidate that is perfect criteria. So, if you believe that you experience negative effects and emotions due to living through a traumatic event, EMDR therapy may be beneficial to you.

EMDR Therapy at Synchrony Brain Health

Synchrony Brain Health offers mental health therapy tools for people living with a variety of mental health issues. Our brain-based approaches help our patients better understand how the brain is a part of mental health and offer services that adjust how the brain works to improve the benefits of mental health treatment. This includes the use of EMDR for patients who have suffered from traumatic events. Find out more about our services and EMDR therapy available at our facility today from our website.

Getting help for mental health can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to considering various mental health treatments like psychiatric medications. Psychiatric medications can be essential for treating mental health issues as they can greatly reduce the severity of symptoms and improve mental well-being. But, many may feel wary about starting medications, switching medications, or experiencing side effects of medications. That’s why it’s important to plan your conversation with your mental health provider and specialists before having a conversation about psychiatric medications. This way, you feel more confident moving forward with treatment planning and using medications in a way that best suits your needs and goals for mental healing.

Some tips for talking to your mental health specialist about psychiatric medications include:

Plan to Talk About Some Specific Things During Your Conversation

It can be helpful to identify some things your mental health specialist will need to know during your assessment to determine whether or not you should use mental health medications. Gathering this information beforehand can help you provide the most accurate information. Some of the things you should plan to discuss include:

Family History: Your mental health specialist will likely ask you questions about your family history including other people in your family who may suffer from mental health issues. Genetics plays a part in how medications may work for you and determining family history can provide your mental health care team with vital information about making suggestions for your care.

Medications You’ve Used or Currently Use: Make sure to plan to talk about any medications you’re currently taking or have already taken in the past as your mental health provider will need to know. Make a list so that you don’t miss any. Your provider will need to know if medications you’ve used in the past have led to adverse reactions so that medications with the same ingredients are prescribed again. Furthermore, your specialist will need to know of any other medications, for both mental or physical health issues, you may be taking to determine the best types of medications that can be used in congruence with the ones you’re already taking to reduce risks of side effects.

Prepare to be Open and Honest

Your mental healthcare provider will ask you a series of questions to help determine whether or not psychiatric medications will be helpful to you during treatment. And, to better determine if any medications may not work well for your treatment due to the risk of side effects, allergies, etc. It’s important to be completely honest when answering these questions so that the medications you will be prescribed work as intended and that they don’t lead to adverse reactions. Some questions you may expect to be asked during a medication assessment may include:

• do you have any allergies to medications?
• have you tried psychiatric medications in the past?
• do you have any physical health ailments?
• have you been diagnosed with other mental health issues?
• do you have thoughts of self-harm or suicide?
• what are the symptoms you’re experiencing?
• how long have you been experiencing symptoms?
• are there things that trigger symptoms? What are they?

Getting Help From Synchrony Brain Health for Mental Health Issues

Do you find yourself struggling with daily life due to symptoms of mental health issues? Psychiatric medications and other treatments are available at Synchrony Brain Health. At our outpatient mental health treatment facility, we focus on a brain-based approach to mental treatment. We provide medication management services as well as genetically-informed psychopharmacology which helps to improve the way that medications work for mental health treatment patients. Learn more about how we can help from our website today.

People all over the country are looking to ketamine as a new way to treat treatment-resistant depression. One application of ketamine for depression treatment is a brand-name nasal spray inhaler, Spravato. Spravato makes ketamine applications quick and easy and can provide a number of benefits to people who may not be good candidates for ketamine infusions. But, what is Spravato nasal spray and what should you know about this type of treatment for depressive disorders before determining if it’s a right fit for you?

Frequently Asked Questions About Spravato Nasal Spray

Before starting treatment for mental health like Spravato, you’re likely to have many questions. Getting all of your questions answered about Spravato treatment can help you step into treatment sessions feeling confident and well-informed about your decision. And, allow you to have access to education about what you can expect during treatment sessions, potential side effects, and more so that you can feel confident during the process.

Some FAWs about Spravato nasal spray treatment include:

Is Spravato the Same as Ketamine Infusion Therapy?

Ketamine is a medical substance that’s used in the treatment of mood disorders like depression as it has little-known side effects and boasts successful results. Both ketamine infusion therapy and Spravato nasal inhalers use ketamine as the sole active medication. However, their main difference is administration. Ketamine infusions administer ketamine directly into the bloodstream via intravenous infusion, or IV. Spravato nasal spray administers ketamine into the body through a nasal inhaler. While both treatments harness the same results and utilize the same medication, they are different in their approach. So, no, Spravato is different from ketamine infusion therapy.

People who have trouble with needles or need a quicker administration method may consider Spravato as an alternative to ketamine infusions.

Is Spravato Something I Can Use at Home?

No. Spravato nasal spray is administered by a medical professional, typically at mental health treatment facilities. This is so that the correct dosage is administered with each application. And, so that the safety of patients is a priority as supervision of these administrations can help to reduce risks associated with potential side effects like disorientation.

Who Is Not a Good Candidate for Spravato?

There are some people who aren’t good candidates for Spravato nasal spray treatments. So, it can be helpful to determine whether or not you may be a good candidate for this type of treatment before looking further into it. Some reasons a person may not be a good fit for Spravato treatments can include:

• an allergy to ketamine
• a history of aneurysms or other blood vessel issues
• diagnosis of heart disease
• diagnosis of brain disease
• pregnancy

It’s important to be open and honest with your treatment provider about any medical history you have and the medications you may be taking to best determine if you’re a good candidate for Spravato.

Getting Help for Depression With Spravato

If you think that you may be a good candidate for Spravato and want to learn more about how it can help with symptoms of treatment-resistant depression, find out more about this treatment available at Synchrony Brain Health.

Many people are looking for alternatives to mental health treatment and therapies as medications can lead to adverse reactions. And, because results aren’t always the same from patient to patient. Combining traditional treatment methods and new-age therapies, like alpha-stim, can provide people with the more effective treatment results they’re looking for. But, what is alpha-stim, and who is a good candidate for this type of therapy?

Understanding More About What Alpha-Stim Is

So, what is alpha-stim, and who can benefit from this type of treatment? Essentially, alpha-stim is a device that sends electromagnetic wavelengths into the body that can help to break down harmful chemicals and cells that can be the result of mental and physical health issues within the body to the electron level. This resets the body so that it can regenerate new and fully functioning cells, resulting in better mental and physical well-being. Alpha-stim is FDA-approved to help treat issues including insomnia, depression, and anxiety and can be used in combination with other therapies and treatments.

The Benefits

The benefits of alpha-stim treatment are many, but they are unlike traditional forms of mental health treatment as it is completely non-invasive. Medications that are traditionally used in the treatment of mental health issues, pain, and sleep disorders can become addictive. Also, they may present the risk of side effects or adverse reactions in some people who try them. Alpha-stim has little to no risk of side effects. Plus, is non-invasive, so patients who use it don’t have to worry about the risk of experiencing discomfort or adverse reactions. Finally, alpha-stim can be utilized on an outpatient basis and people who use this type of therapy can go about their daily routine after treatment sessions and without the need for any recovery time.

How It Works

The alpha-stim device comes with clasps that attach to the ear lobes that send electromagnetic waves into the body during sessions. These electromagnetic waves are then sent to the brain and end up stimulating specific nerve cells in the brain that are responsible for mood management, sleep management, and other things that are associated with physical and mental health. These electromagnetic currents are not very strong, so patients do not feel anything during alpha-stim sessions. They can just sit back and relax while the device does its job.

The alpha-stim device can be adjusted to pinpoint specific neurons of the brain according to a patient’s needs. For example, if a patient is experiencing insomnia, they may get a different alpha-stim experience than a patient who is diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression. The results of alpha-stim may vary from person to person, but most people experience symptom relief after their first session. Sessions can last longer than 20 mins and typically, patients are put on a schedule for sessions to occur 2-4x per week until expected results occur.

Who is a Good Candidate for Aplha-Stim Therapy?

If you haven’t had the best luck experiencing symptom relief of anxiety, depression, or insomnia with traditional treatments, you may be looking for an alternative therapy like alpha-stim. So, you may be wondering if you’re a good candidate for alpha-stim sessions. Many people can benefit from alpha-stim, but there are some things that may keep a person from being a good candidate for this type of therapy. Find out if you’re a good candidate by having a professional consultation with a mental health professional like the ones available at Synchrony Brain Health.

TMS is a revolutionary tool that is helping people living with depressive disorders find relief that they may not have found otherwise. But, how do you know if you’re a good candidate for TMS therapy for depression?

More About What TMS Is

TMS is a type of therapy that is approved for the use of treating symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) by the FDA. It’s a non-invasive approach that is especially useful for people who are living with treatment-resistant depression, which is depression that doesn’t respond well to other, more traditional types of depression treatment such as antidepressants or behavioral therapies.

How Does TMS Work?

TMS is conducted by first assessing a person’s brain to identify areas that aren’t working as they should produce mood-managing brain chemicals like dopamine and serotonin, Once these areas of the brain are identified, a TMS specialist will know exactly where to utilize the TMS machine during sessions. During a TMS session, the patient will sit down in a chair comfortably and the machine will be placed near their head. Once the machine is turned on, the TMS device sends magnetic pulses to the brain in order to stimulate the specific treatment areas, working to jump-start the neurons in the brain into working how they should. During treatment sessions, patients can expect to hear the machine send these magnetic pulses which are commonly compared to the sound of an MRI machine.

Who is a Good Candidate for TMS Sessions?

There are specific people who may be a better fit for TMS sessions than others. People who are good candidates for TMS include people who:

• are struggling with the effects of treatment-resistant depression
• have tried other types of depression treatment without getting the results they need
• are over the age of 18
• have a diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

Who May Not be a Good Candidate for TMS Sessions?

While TMS is a great option for people who are struggling with the symptoms of MDD, there are some people who are better fit for other types of depression therapies. Some instances that may disqualify a person from qualifying for TMS therapy sessions can include if a person is:

• diagnosed with seizure disorders
• has a medically implanted device in their body that may interfere with magnets
• more suited to other types of depression therapies
• not one who has tried more traditional approaches to treating depression first
• under the age of 18
• under physical or medical risk
• dealing with head trauma due to injury
• diagnosed with severe headaches or migraines

Think You May be a Good Candidate for TMS Therapy for Depression?

TMS has a low risk of side effects and a very high success rate for people who are looking to find symptom relief for MDD. And, since it’s a well-tolerated treatment, many people qualify for this depression therapy. So, if you believe you may be a good candidate for TMS, consider Synchrony Brain Health for your depression treatment needs. Find out more about what you can expect from our outpatient mental health services that focus on the brain from our website today.

Are you struggling with insomnia as a result of living with a mental health issue? Sleep issues are common symptoms of mental health issues like depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance use disorders. Living with sleep issues can lead to a number of negative side effects like exhaustion, cognitive decline, memory issues, immune deficiencies, and more. So, it’s important to address sleep issues like insomnia throughout mental health treatment. One therapy that’s effective in helping people who are living with sleep issues as a result of mental health issues is CBT for insomnia. But, what is CBT for insomnia and what can a person expect from this type of therapy?

What is CBT for Insomnia?

CBT stands for cognitive behavioral therapy. It’s a type of one-on-one therapy that utilizes individual therapy sessions between an individual and a certified mental health therapist to address behavioral issues (like sleep conditions). And, provide methods to address behavioral issues that present as the result of mental health issues.

Approaches to CBT for Sleep Issues

During CBT sessions that are aimed at addressing sleep disturbances, a therapist will identify thought patterns, emotions, and behaviors that may result in sleep issues. Once these thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are identified, patients are given methods that challenge these issues so that the patient can test for better sleep results. Some of the approaches that may be used during CBT sessions can include interventions that touch on mental, emotional, and behavioral components:

Mental: A CBT therapist may work to identify any thoughts that may be attributed to a person’s inability to fall or stay asleep and work on adjusting these negative thoughts about sleep so that a person can get more quality rest.

Emotional: A CBT therapist will help a patient understand that the thoughts, emotions, and behaviors they have that deal with sleep all affect their quality of sleep.

Behavioral: A CBT therapist helps patients better identify behaviors that may be keeping them from getting quality sleep and adjust these behaviors for better sleep.

Techniques Learned in CBT Sessions for Insomnia

During CBT sessions that are focused on sleep, a patient can learn new ways to address the issues that are keeping them from getting the healthy amount of sleep they need. Some of these things can include:

• reframing negative thoughts that lead to unhealthy sleep patterns
• identifying and addressing any myths or misconceptions about sleep
• adjusting any unhealthy behaviors that can impact sleep including watching TV before bed, laying in bed before bedtime, eating in bed, etc.
• setting a sleeping schedule (waking up and going to bed at the same time every night)
• learning and practicing relaxation techniques to utilize for better sleep
• educating patients about why sleep is important for better mental well-being

Finding Treatment That Includes CBT for Better Sleep

If you’re struggling with sleep and believe it’s due to mental health issues, the thoughts you have about sleep, or unhealthy behaviors that result in a lack of sleep, CBT may help. Treatment that includes CBT can help you identify and address why you aren’t getting the sleep you need for better mental well-being. And, give you the tools necessary to tackle your sleep issues. Synchrony Brain Health offers outpatient services that can help people living with sleep issues like insomnia take back control of their sleep. Find out more about our CBT protocol for sleep disturbances service from our website.