Don't Want Sleep Meds? Therapy An Option for Insomnia

Here's an interesting story from U.S. News & World Report about using a special form of cognitive behavioral therapy to fix sleep problems instead of medication. This therapy is believed to help eliminate the thoughts and behaviors that can make getting a good night's sleep much harder. "CBT is no quick fix: People typically need between two and eight sessions to reap benefits, and it takes effort to implement a therapist's advice. But 'there's general consensus now,' says Gregg Jacobs, an insomnia specialist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School's Sleep Disorders Center, that CBT 'is the preferred and recommended first-line treatment' for chronic insomnia. It empowers patients to regain control over their sleep, and once habits are changed, they become a way of life, he says."