CBT for Insomnia - Employers

Insomnia affects over half of all employees at least a few nights per week. It is associated with reduced performance, increased absenteeism ($1900 annually per employee with insomnia), high health care utilization, and frequent use of sleeping pills (65 million prescriptions in 2010). However, sleeping pills are often ineffective, impair daytime performance, and represent a major expense for employers and their insurers since many individuals use them nightly for years.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is now recommended as the first line treatment for chronic insomnia. It is more effective than sleeping pills, eliminates sleep medication use in 60% of long-term nightly users (Morin et al., Am. J. of Psychiatry, 2004) , and reduces or eliminates sleep medication in 90% of patients (Jacobs et al., Am. J. of Med,.,1996). However, CBT-I has not been widely available as a first-line treatment for chronic insomnia for numerous reasons. These include lack of availability in sleep clinics; lack of clinicians trained in CBT-I; lack of awareness by physicians and patients; and, cost, time, inconvenience. As a result, a major paper in the journal Sleep, recently suggested that self-help and online CBT-I should be the first-line treatment for insomnia.

Recent randomized published clinical trials demonstrate that online CBT-I is highly effective and may be as/more effective than face-to-face CBT-I. One study showed that 81% of insomnia patients improved with online CBT-I. (Sleep, 2009). A second study funded by the National Institutes of Health showed that 75% of patients eliminated insomnia altogether, and increased total sleep time by an hour, with online CBT-I. (Archives of General Psychiatry, 2009). A third study showed that CBT delivered via PDF treatment sessions is effective for insomnia. (Sleep, 2011). Additionally, recent studies demonstrate that CBT can be delivered inexpensively and effectively in self-help (DVD, CD, book) formats.

Dr. Gregg D. Jacobs’s gold-standard Conquering Insomnia program makes CBT-I available in online, self-help formats. It is based on 20 years of research and clinical practice at the Harvard and U. of Massachusetts Medical Schools involving 10,000 insomnia patients and a study at Harvard, funded by the National Institutes of Health, demonstrating that this CBT-I program is more effective than Ambien. The Conquering Insomnia program includes PDF and MP3 versions and QA with Dr. Jacobs. It is a five week, five session CBT-I program including sleep medication reduction techniques. It also includes individualized weekly email feedback to the user from Dr. Jacobs on an optional weekly sleep diary. Resources include an MP3 relaxation file and a library of insomnia focus articles and study reviews.

75% of those using the Conquering Insomnia program report significant improvement in sleep and daytime performance. Total sleep time increases from under 6 hours per night to almost 7 hours per night, and 66% reduce their medication by at least 50%. Because many patients take insomnia medications for more than five years, these significant reductions in sleep medications and improvements in sleep result in substantial short-term and long-term savings on sleep medications expenses as well as reduced expenses for psychology visits, lab tests, specialists.

The Conquering Insomnia program is a standardized, proven CBT-I treatment in a convenient, usable format. It includes objective assessment of positive outcomes and efficacy on sleep parameters and sleep medications, and objective assessment/demonstration of ROI. In comparison, the majority of behavioral health treatments provide none of the preceding advantages and, as a result, often result in no ROI.

Introductory annual license rates for the Conquering Insomnia program star at $3900 employers. Contact Dr. Jacobs at info@cbtforinsomnia.com for more information.

Dr. Jacobs’s bio, which also describes his work with Fortune 500 companies such as Fidelity, John Hancock, and Reebok, and media coverage of his work by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Economist, can be viewed at http://cbtforinsomnia.com/About/gregg_jacobs.html