The Assessment and Treatment of Insomnia Across the Lifespan

Sleep is a core biological function, an inherent process that is both physiological and psychological, and one that affects us over our entire lifespan. Sleep plays a vital role in alertness, learning, memory, concentration, mood and health. Research strongly supports that sleep disturbance is a sensitive index of psychopathology and is highly comorbid with most psychiatric disorders, suggesting the importance of assessing and treating sleep disturbances across psychological diagnostic categories. 

Fortunately, insomnia is a very treatable condition at any age. The most durable and effective treatment does not require medication. Cognitive behavioral treatment for insomnia (CBTi) builds on basic behavioral techniques and incorporates interventions directed at reducing sleep anxiety, cognitive activity (i.e., racing thoughts) and modifying the sleep schedule. In this workshop, you get an introduction to the factors that contribute to insomnia across the life span and the essential features of its cognitive-behavioral assessment and treatment. Your focus in the workshop is on the assessment and treatment of insomnia in children, adolescents, adults and the elderly, and includes role-playing, exercises and video to demonstrate and practice the key strategies of the treatment approach.

There are over 80 different types of sleep disorders, but by far the most common is insomnia. Insomnia consists of difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty staying asleep or reinitiating sleep after awakening. Insomnia can emerge at any point in our lifespan. Insomnia may emerge in infancy or childhood. While medical conditions may lead to sleep difficulties, more typically such early insomnia emphasizes the role of learning in sleep patterns. As children reach adolescence, they are likely to experience a delay in their sleep phase due to hormonal changes and emerging social behaviors. In young adults, insomnia may occur as they enter the work world but continue to exist on a college schedule—staying out late on the weekend and sleeping in the next morning. Although we do experience changes in physiological sleep need as we age in adulthood, most insomnia in older adults is associated with medical conditions—pain in particular—and medications rather than lost sleep need.