What is CBT-I?
CBT-I is a form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy specifically for Insomnia. CBT is a type of therapy that helps patients to change how they think.
For more detailed information about CBT in general, I recommend The Mayo Clinic’s website. For more detailed information about CBT-I specifically, I recommend “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I): A Primer.”
I use Finch, a habit tracking app. It’s great and I recommend it to everyone. There have been so many days where I thought to myself, “I should do X, I don’t want to disappoint my bird.” Besides entering your own goals, you can choose from a list of suggestions. One I’d long skimmed over: “Research how CBTI can help with insomnia.” I’ve used Finch for over three years; I wish I’d realized sooner how much it was really trying to help me!
I started CBT-I in July 2024, and finished in January 2025. The whole point of this blog is sharing my experiences, but I will TLDR: The therapy helped me immensely, but it was incredibly difficult to enact. What I’ve learned has improved my quality of life, but most days I still have to fight to do it.
Seeing this therapist was the end of the line. I’d seen several sleep doctors, my GP, my talk therapist, a psychologist. I’d had my CPAP checked, I’d tried so many different medications. I couldn’t sleep and I was suicidal.
The CBT-I doctor said he normally saw patients for 6-8 sessions, though we could do more if necessary. At the end of our in-take session, he recommended eight. We had 14 sessions, including intake, roughly every two weeks. I got a referral from the psychiatrist to see him; I got the referral for the psychiatrist from my GP. It was a process.
One more TLDR: CBT-I helped, but so did new medication (prazosin). I couldn’t fully “think” myself out of my problems.
