Fw:New Web Site Offers Six-Week Insomnia Therapy

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New Web site offers six-week insomnia therapy, but not all users may benefit.

By Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Sept. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Millions of tossing and turning Americans

could find relief for their insomnia from a new six-week behavioral therapy

program, available online.

The therapy -- which costs users a total of $35 -- is the brainchild of Gregg

s, an insomnia specialist at the Sleep Disorders Center of Beth Israel

Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, and an assistant professor of psychiatry at

Harvard Medical School.

"Insomnia, to a large extent, is a learned problem," s explained. "It is

due to the way people think about their sleep and their sleep behaviors. These

actually cause the insomnia, but they can be changed to eliminate the

insomnia."

But another therapist cautioned that a Web-based program may not send all

insomniac users into peaceful slumber.

Joyce Walsleben, past director of the New York University Sleep Disorders

Center, said, "I think it's a great idea," but added that "people are so

individual -- there is a cluster who will like that, [and] there's a cluster

who couldn't do it."

About 60 million Americans a year have insomnia often or for extended periods,

according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Untreated chronic insomnia can lead to even more serious sleep deficits.

Although pills can help people sleep, they are no cure for insomnia, s

said. Citing the National Institutes of Health, he said a consensus panel of

experts there endorsed cognitive behavioral therapy as being more effective,

and the preferred treatment for chronic insomnia over sleeping pills.

Cognitive behavioral therapy teaches poor sleepers how to modify stressful

thought about their sleep, modify negative or disruptive sleep behaviors,

improve relaxation skills and improve lifestyle practices, s said.

"Remarkably, this can be done in a short period of time," he added. The method

works with up to 75 percent of patients, s noted.

The problem with cognitive behavioral therapy is that few have access to it,

s said. "There are only 200 clinicians worldwide who have extensive

experience in this area," he said. "Most sleep clinics don't offer it."

"I realized that it would never become widely available unless we made it

available on the Internet," s said.

The program offered on the Web site is the same program that s tested in

an NIH-funded study. That study showed that a cognitive behavioral therapy

program was more effective than Ambien, the leading sleep medication.

s has translated that program to the Web. "We took the exact same program

and put it into an interactive, dynamic format. The program allows patients to

do things they can't do with a therapist," he said.

Unlike seeing a therapist, a user can visit the program every day for progress

updates and reinforcement. The program consists of six modules that are

designed to be completed in six half-hour sessions conducted over six weeks.

"The program calculates your sleep pattern," s explained. "It gives you

immediate feedback not only on your sleep pattern, but also prescribes very

specific goals to follow involving cognitive and behavioral techniques. The

program identifies when you are not inline with those goals and provides

suggestion in how to accomplish those goals."

The program can be accessed at http://www.cbtforinsomnia.com/.

"My belief is this is a more effective way to treat patients with insomnia,"

s said. "This will not only revolutionize the way cognitive behavioral

therapy is made available, but it will also revolutionize the treatment of

insomnia."

Walsleben agreed that cognitive behavioral therapy, sometimes aided (at least

initially) by sleeping pills, is the best way to cure insomnia.

But she said she has doubts about whether a computer program will help everyone

with the problem.

"Clearly, this could work for people who are good with the Internet," she said.

But she believes others will need "a lot of hands-on verbalizing [with a

therapist]. I like that person-to-person touch."

More information

The National Sleep Foundation can tell you more about insomnia at

<http://www.sleepfoundation.org/hottopics/index.php?secid=9>.

(SOURCES: Gregg s, Ph.D., insomnia specialist, Sleep Disorders Center of

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and assistant professor, psychiatry,

Harvard Medical School, Boston; Joyce Walsleben, Ph.D., past director, New York

University Sleep Disorders Center, New York City)

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