why I am still awake at 9 am

[baratron]

One of the reasons I described the CBT I've been doing for sleep problems as "useless" is the fact that every Thursday night, I end up staying awake the whole night because I'm procrastinating doing the exercises I'm supposed to have done during the week. The obvious question is "Why don't you just get started, as starting is always the hardest

Comments

[firecat]

But she finds that the food diary focuses her mind on how much she's eating, and it makes her feel worse. I have exactly the same problem with a sleep diary.

That seems like a sufficient explanation for the too-stressed-out-to-start-ness.

[alexmc]

I'm not sure I understand how CBT can help with sleep problems. annafdd tells me it can help if the problem is anxiety - which it seems to be in your case.

But if it helps to reduce your anxiety over time that may not have positive effects on your sleep for ages.

[baratron]

Exactly! And my level of anxiety about getting to sleep is the same no matter what hour I try to sleep! (It's slightly reduced if I go to sleep at the time I prefer, since I have lots of past evidence that I can sleep at that time and only negative evidence about getting to sleep earlier in the night.)

I'm not happy about what I'm perceiving as bullying from my therapist, but we'll see how today goes.

[mjl]

"I was under the impression that CBT is about teasing out negative thoughts at the back of your brain and then challenging them with positive beliefs"

I'm not an expert, but that would be the "C" bit. The "B" bit is about changing or replacing "problem" behaviours. But it's supposed to deal with both. I guess that may not be possible in 6 sessions - the Royal College of Psychiatrists page says 6 weeks to 6 months, depending on the person and the problem. So, being generous to the therapist, maybe they've decided they need to shortcut the process in order to achieve anything in 6 sessions.

I also read somewhere that there's a study showing that CBT tends to be most effective for people that have not previously had any therapy (can't find again now where I read that...), which I don't think applies to you...