Insomnia CBT-I Treatment for Psychiatrists – 1 October 2026
Event resources
Overview
This course will cover the fundamental principles and techniques for CBT-I, equipping attendees to deliver the therapy to their patients as well as to use individual techniques as effective, brief behavioural interventions. The course will be delivered by experienced clinicians who bring real world experience to the program. The pharmacological management of insomnia will also be discussed, including how and when to prescribe and deprescribe.
Insomnia is very underdiagnosed and undertreated in the UK, by psychiatrists, GPs and other clinicians. Untreated chronic insomnia is responsible for a high burden of psychiatric and physical morbidity, both directly and indirectly. CBT-I is the gold standard for treating insomnia. It leads to significant and long-lasting improvements and is effective in the majority of patients including patients with a wide range of comorbid psychiatric and physical health conditions. It can usually lead to significant improvements in those comorbid psychiatric conditions and help prevent relapse, in addition to improving sleep and quality of life.
We will go through a full CBT-I treatment programme with the attending clinicians acting as the patients, in order to teach the fundamental techniques and course structure. Then group discussion/Q&A will facilitate further learning.
This course will be delivered live online and will not be available to view OnDemand.
Programme
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 9.30am | Introduction and normal sleep |
| 10.00am | Understanding insomnia, sleep diaries and paradoxical intent |
| 10.30am | Sleep scheduling 1 |
| 11.00am | Sleep scheduling 2 and sleep hygiene |
| 11.30am | Break |
| 11.50am | Stimulus Control |
| 12.20pm | Progressive muscle relaxation |
| 12.30pm | Q&A |
| 12.45pm | Break |
| 1.45pm | Buffer zone and put the day to bed |
| 2.15pm | Thought management techniques |
| 2.45pm | Imagery |
| 3.00pm | Break |
| 3.15pm | The wagon wheel technique |
| 3.45pm | Relapse prevention |
| 4.00pm | Q&A |
| 4.30pm | Close |
About the speakers
For this online course, we will be joined by:
- Dr Hugh Selsick - Consultant Psychiatrist, Insomnia and Behavioural Sleep Medicine Clinic, University College London Hospitals
- Dr Lauren Waterman, Consultant Psychiatrist, Camden South Core Team, North London NHS Foundation Trust
Slides
Any speaker slides we have permission to share will be shared below.
CBT-I Insomnia for Psychiatrists slides
Please note these links will expire in 10 weeks, please download any material you would like to keep.
Q&A
Please find Q&A delegate questions and speaker answers in PDF format.
Please note these links will expire in 10 weeks, please download any material you would like to keep.
Additional content
We didn’t have time to cover it much in the day, as there was lots to go through on CBT-I, but it would be useful to look through the attached insomnia in adults treatment pathway (a 1-page flowchart) to see where CBT-I is indicated and fits in amongst the other treatment options, as well as how to assess suitability for CBT-I. The attached insomnia clinical guideline we made for NLFT NHS Trust in London includes more detailed advice on how to assess patients.
Resources pack
Please see further resources below:
- Cost Benefit Analysis of CBT-I
- Insomnia and risk of mortality from all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and cancer Systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies
- CBT-I Insomnia for Psychiatrists Resources
Insomnia assessment (in two parts due to large file size:
Taking a sleep history (in five parts due to large file size):