Word: insomnia
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...study of 82 men and women between the ages of 18 and 66 who were admitted into a mental-health hospital for emergency psychiatric evaluation, Bernert discovered that the presence of severe and frequent nightmares or insomnia was a strong predictor of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. More than half of the study participants had attempted suicide at least once in the past, and the 17% of the study group who had made an attempt within the previous month had dramatically higher scores in nightmare frequency and intensity than the rest. Bernert found that the relationship between nightmares or insomnia...
Past studies have also established a link between chronic sleep disruption and suicide. Sleep complaints, which include nightmares, insomnia and other sleep disturbances, are listed in the current Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's inventory of suicide-prevention warning signs. Yet what distinguishes Bernert's research is that when nightmares and insomnia were evaluated separately, nightmares were independently predictive of suicidal behavior. "It may be that nightmares present a unique risk for suicidal symptoms, which may have to do with the way we process emotion within dreams," Bernert says...
...served as a sleep "guru" for the popular weight-loss reality show The Biggest Loser. Online therapy can be helpful as an educational tool, says Mostafavi, but he cautions, "You don't have the benefit of talking to a professional and finding out what is causing the insomnia." (Insomnia may be a side effect of an underlying condition, such as anxiety, Alzheimer's, arthritis or asthma, or it can result simply from poor sleep habits, like failing to keep a regular bedtime.) Vincent concedes that patients who have deeper problems - those who are depressed or suicidal - or have trouble concentrating...
...area that has been studied extensively is the benefits of cognitive-behavioral therapy vs. those of medication. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that while cognitive therapy alone or in combination with medication worked equally well to treat insomnia in the short term, patients fared better over the long term with talk therapy alone. "Cognitive therapy should be a first-line approach," says the study's lead author, Charles Morin, "but many people do not have access...
With demand far outstripping supply for therapists trained to treat sleep problems, online programs are "a very innovative and cost-effective way of looking at insomnia therapy," says Morin. There may be no single cure-all for sleeplessness, but such promising alternatives should help more night owls wake in the morning feeling refreshed...