Abstract
Intense psychological pain and a major disruption of daily life invariably accompany chronic insomnia. These patients feel an urgent need for help. Fear and anger, in response to not controlling sleep, often lead to feelings of powerlessness, despair, and increasing frustration. Unfortunately, these emotional reactions are instrumental in transforming transient insomnia into chronic insomnia. Emotional stress occasionally brings transient sleeplessness to almost everyone; however, an intense emotional reaction to sleeplessness combines with conditioning or learning patterns to perpetuate temporary sleeplessness into agonizing and life-disruptive chronic insomnia.
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Recommended Readings
Coates, T. J., Thoresen, C. E. (1977). How to sleep better: A drug free program for overcoming insomnia. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Behavioral management approaches for sleeplessness are presented clearly and thoroughly.
Kales, K., Kales, J. (1984). The evaluation and treatments of insomnia. New York: Oxford University Press. A comprehensive overview with emphasis on psychotherapeutic interventions for insomnia.
Mason, L. J. (1985). Guide to stress reduction. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts Publishers. The mind—body relaxation techniques applied to insomnia treatment are fully discussed and described.
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© 1991 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Steinberg, N. (1991). Breaking the Vicious Circle of Insomnia. In: Hauri, P.J. (eds) Case Studies in Insomnia. Critical Issues in Psychiatry. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9586-8_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9586-8_10
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