With all due respect to folk remedies and the miracle of modern medicine, the best treatment for insomnia is neither a glass of warm milk nor a pill from your medicine cabinet. The most effective treatment lays inside of you; unleashing the power of your mind. A 2008 report by CBS 60 MINUTES highlights how lack of sleep can affect everything from memory and feelings to eating habits and obesity.

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A recent study published in the Sept. 27, 2004, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine found Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) to be clearly more effective than sleeping pills in helping those suffering from insomnia to become normal sleepers. The study’s authors noted that CBT should be the first line of therapy for chronic sleep-onset insomnia, yet sleeping pills are commonly prescribed even though the efficacy and negative side effects have caused many to question their expanding usage. The Two Session Solution^SM of Hollywood/Fort Lauderdale and North Miami, Florida, uses methods including hypnosis and Neuro Linguistic Programming to help clients with insomnia and sleep issues and has an almost 100% success rate in treating non-medical forms of insomnia and sleep issues.

In their haste to medicate their problems away, American consumers and medical professionals are neglecting CBT, a proven, highly effective treatment for the most common types of sleep disorders. CBT has been in use since the 1950s as a treatment for depression, phobias, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and other conditions. CBT emphasizes the importance of thoughts in determining behavior. It is based on the principle that our thoughts are what cause us to feel and act the way we do. Therefore, if we are experiencing unwanted feelings and behaviors, it is important to identify the thoughts that are causing the feelings/behaviors and to learn how to replace them with thoughts that lead to more desirable behaviors.

CBT techniques are based on the scientifically supported assumption that most emotional and behavioral reactions are learned at both the conscious and unconscious levels. The goal of CBT is to enable individuals to unlearn and replace their unwanted reactions and behaviors.

The Two Session Solution^SM uses an advanced form of CBT called Neuro Linguistic Programming and/or hypnosis to resolve the underlying problems that caused the sleep disorder and to retrain the mind to both easily fall asleep and remain asleep. Using this approach, we review with each client the specific problems with sleep. In some cases, there is an emotional component or a behavior that has been created, such as the habit of staying up too late or not being able to relax in order to fall asleep. In other cases, stress, anger, frustration, anxiety, fear, and depression contribute to sleeplessness.

We help clients overcome these issues and, if needed, give them their own personal sleep command that they repeat aloud when they are experiencing difficulty sleeping. By saying the word or phrase, they almost instantly trigger a highly relaxed state which allows them to fall asleep in a matter of minutes. The beauty of these types of treatments is they provide a permanent solution, yet they typically only require one or two sessions of therapy. Some clients have been using their personal sleep trigger for many years, and it is just as effective now as it was when they first started using it.

Individuals who are suffering from sleep disorders, which can often lead to performance problems at work or school, slowed responses and forgetfulness, should consider and compare all of their treatment options before turning to sleeping pills. They might be happily surprised to find that their most effective treatment option is also the one that is the most convenient, is less expensive over time and has no adverse side effects.