In today’s episode of our psychopharmacology series, we will discuss insomnia and treatments for insomnia. Most of the time, sleep medications are not the solution for addressing insomnia! We’ll briefly describe cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which is THE first line treatment for insomnia.  We will then review 6 different classes of medications used to treat insomnia including benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepine sedative hypnotics (i.e. Z-drugs), melatonin agonists, TCAs, orexin receptor antagonists, and miscellaneous non-FDA approved medications for insomnia. We’ll discuss the evidence base for these medications in treating chronic insomnia (hint: it’s not good) and what factors might make you choose behavioral treatment versus medications. We’ll then review common side effects of sleep medications and test your clinical reasoning with some cases!

Photo Credit: Joao Santos, “Smooth Antelope Canyon b&w,” Flickr

Episode Music Credits: Javier Suárez, Tumbling Dishes, Better With Music