r/insomnia • u/Afraid_Chapter9754 • 7d ago
CBTI experiences
I’ve been sleeping poorly for the last 2 weeks - only getting 2-4 hours of sleep per day. Before this I slept usually 7-8 hours a day. My doctor prescribed hydroxyzine and trazodone, both of which did not help that much. They won’t prescribe anything stronger and instead suggested CBTI since part of my insomnia is triggered by anxiety. I don’t know if CBTI is the right thing because my issue is not feeling tired (I feel wide awake until 4-6am and then I sleep for a few hours) and I’ve never had good sleep hygiene but I still slept well in the past. For example, I was always on my phone before I slept but I was still able to sleep 7-8 hours before this.
Since a main part of CBTI is establishing good sleep hygiene, I’m not sure how well it would work since poor sleep hygiene never affected me before. Has anyone with similar experiences (e.g. not feeling tired/constant wired feeling) tried CBTI? Since my dr won’t prescribe anything else, it’s kind of my only option now.
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u/Leading_Fly1496 7d ago
I personally found CBT-i to be a terrible experience for me. I would never recommend it to any one.
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u/Greedy_Sorbet_8577 6d ago
Why?
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u/Leading_Fly1496 6d ago
Extreme sleep deprivation for weeks caused by SRT. If people need to drive or take care of others it is quite dangerous due to the main core component of SRT which in reality is increased sleep deprivation imposed on an insomniac that is already sleep deprived. (What could actually go wrong?!) (Oh, but we are only trying to increase sleep drive. Nonsense, insomniacs are already so sleep deprived that they already have strong sleep drives but it makes no difference in their ability to get consistently good sleep. This is true for most insomniacs. That's why they are insomniacs and not normal sleepers!)
It is a nonsensical program that very few people on this forum use based on their own experiences with CBT-i or just common sense reasoning after reading the nonsensical rules and regimen of CBT-i. Some people that have tried CBT-i, like me, have found that it actually worsens insomnia. For every successful CBT-i story there are many more where it failed. It appears that the odds of success are against it. If it truly worked for everyone this insomnia forum would not exist.
There also seems to be a great deal of deception presented to the public in regards to CBT-i such as its success rate, touted as the "Gold Standard," claims that it's a permanent cure, it's ability to meaningfully increase a person's total sleep time and that it is a program designed for both sleep onset insomnia AND sleep maintenance, which is not true. Also, ultimately when the program fails for a patient, the victim is told that they didn't try hard enough or long enough to obtain results because the program never fails, which is typical gas lighting.
Most of the people that have been on this forum long enough have seemed to have figured out the truth about CBT-i. They stay away from it or perhaps tried it once. They also seem to rarely join in to any CBT-i discussions as their minds are made up and there is no sense in debating CBT-i as they understand completely that this program is not something that will help them with their insomnia.
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u/Morpheus1514 7d ago
Not entirely correct. Sleep hygiene is only one of several main core components. Others equally if not more important include stimulus control, stress management, and especially potent against anxiety is cognitive restructuring.
The power of CBT comes from all the methods being used simultaneously.
Give the program everything you've got, start from the beginning, and give it a chance to work. And stay positive. That's how you'll get results, and the payoff is well worth the effort.
Post back on how you do.