Running head: INSOMNIA & THEORIES

Insomnia and the Theories/Treatments Which Coincide With Insomnia
Kandra Koetje Baker College of Muskegon

Insomnia and the theories/treatments which coincide with insomnia
Purpose
The purpose of the following paper is to investigate more thoroughly on the subject matter of insomnia. Insomnia is defined as one must experience one or more sleep-related complaints which occur despite adequate opportunity for sleep and result in some form of daytime functional impairment (Jancin, 2006). The parameters in defining insomnia for the purpose of this paper are expounding upon the theories of treatment for insomnia.
Definitions
Insomnia has been diagnosed as a mental illness in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Edinger, 2013) since 1987. The behaviors that have been applied in diagnosis are: Difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep which is characterized by frequent awakenings or problems returning to sleep after awakenings, early-morning awakening with the inability to return to sleep, the sleep difficulty occurs at least 3 nights a week, the sleep difficulty is present for at least 3 months, the sleep difficulty occurs despite of adequate opportunity for sleep, the insomnia is not better explained by an additional underlying condition such as narcolepsy, the insomnia is not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance, coexisting mental disorders and medical conditions do not explain the insomnia (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Many of the individuals that have continued or chronic behaviors with insomnia may experience fatigue, impairment with cognitive performance, difficulties with attention, concentration, and memory, or possible difficulty with simple manual skills (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Mental health care professionals may find that this particular abnormal disorder may have an impact on a person’s health as fatigue, cognitive focus and their mood could be affected (American Psychiatric Association , 2013). A sleep disorder like insomnia could be a warning sign for serious medical issues like congestive heart failure, osteoarthritis, and Parkinson’s disease (American Psychiatric Association , 2013).
A Review of the Literature Various research has supported the definitions and issues expressed earlier in this paper. The following section will discuss the issues supported with empirical evidence in potential causes and theories of treatments. Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder as compared to narcolepsy and sleepwalking, because of the aforementioned problem or part of an underlying medical or psychiatric condition (Sharma, 2012). An interesting result is that more than half of primary care patients may experience insomnia and only about 1/3 report the problem, and still only 5% of that 1/3 seek treatment (Sharma, 2012). In various articles researched there seems to be an underlying agreement with them and that is through therapy the insomnia may become lessoned or may disappear altogether. Relaxation therapy is one that has been researched and found promising (Sharma, 2012). Relaxation therapy is based upon observations which insomnia patients often display high levels of physiologic, cognitive, and/or emotional arousal, which occurs both at night and during the day (Sharma, 2012). Stimulus control therapy is an additional therapy of which pioneered the use of stimulus control instructions as a behavioral treatment for insomnia (Sharma, 2012). These instructions are designed to help the patient with insomnia to establish a consistent sleep-wake rhythm, to strengthen the bed and bedroom as cues for sleep, and to weaken cues for activities that may interfere with sleep (Sharma, 2012). Another form of therapy is sleep restriction therapy (Sharma, 2012). This theory is based on the concept that the longer a person stays awake, the less likely they will be able to remain awake,