Cognitive Behavioral Treatment of Insomnia (2005) - Michael Perlis, Carla Jungquist, Michael Smith & Donn Posner

Amazon Best Seller #41 among Neuropsychology books (as of 18 July, 2014)

Worth 151$ (Hardcover)

• CBT is a new, increasingly popular method of treatment that provides measurable results and is therefore reimbursed by insurance companies

• Title is ahead of the curve, there's no competition

• Contains reader-friendly, role-playing exercises to apply to daily practice


Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders in the 24/7 world we live in. It's estimated that about 30% of the industrialized population has occasional bouts of insomnia during any given time and that fully 10% of the population has chronic insomnia. Although hypnotics can be helpful - they appear to be most helpful in transient insomnias (usually caused by transient stresses) which occur from time to time in people who are generally good sleepers. Hypnotics are also helpful in those with chronic insomnia but when stopped the insomnia typically recurs. In other words the effect of hypnotics is not a durable effect after the hypnotics are stopped.


Cognitive behavioral therapy of chronic insomnia, on the other hand, is every bit as effective as hypnotics (the effect sizes are similar) but cognitive behavioral therapy has durable effects which can be measured up to a year after therapy has been completed. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the foundation of therapy for chronic insomnia. Yet until recently, there haven't been many "good" references on how the non-sleep specialist actually provides this type of therapy. This book answers that need.


This book, written by several of the world's experts on insomnia, is a practical guide for the practitioner that describes the various components of cognitive behavioral therapy of insomnia (CBTI). CBTI combines aspects of sleep hygiene, stimulous control, sleep restriction, and cognitive therapy into an integrated approach. The session by session guide will be helpful to all counsellors - the authors provide a very rational and "doable" integration. Each session builds on progress made in the previous section. And the book has sufficient background information in the beginning to give most practioners a reasonable exposure to some fundamental principles of sleep medicine.


The book fills a very needed void in the practical literature on insomnia. This book is a MUST read.


About the Author

Michael L. Perlis, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and URMC Neurosciences Program at the University of Rochester and is the Director of the UR Sleep Research Laboratory. His clinical expertise is in the area of Behavioral Sleep Medicine. His research interests include sleep in psychiatric disorders and neurocognitive phenomena in insomnia, the mechanisms of action of sedative hypnotics, and the development of alternative treatments for insomnia. He was a founding member of the AASM's Behavioral Sleep Medicine Committee and of the editorial board for the Journal of Behavioral Sleep Medicine. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Sleep Research and the Journal SLEEP and he hosts an annual seminar on CBT-I for those interested in learning the techniques.