Struggling to Fall Asleep, or Stay Asleep?

Lying awake watching the clock, waking through the night, or getting out of bed exhausted no matter how many hours you spent there — these are the everyday realities of insomnia. About one in three people have trouble sleeping at some point, and for many it becomes a nightly struggle that affects mood, concentration, relationships and physical health. At Rose Park Psychology, we help clients of all ages understand what’s driving their sleep difficulties and work through evidence-based treatment to get real, lasting rest — not just another sleep aid.

What Insomnia Looks Like

• Difficulty falling asleep, even when tired
• Waking frequently through the night, or waking too early and being unable to get back to sleep
• Lying awake worrying about sleep itself, or about not being able to cope the next day
• Feeling exhausted, foggy, irritable or low during the day despite time spent in bed
• Relying on medication, alcohol or screens to try to fall asleep
• Sleep difficulties lasting weeks or months, rather than just a few bad nights

If this has been happening at least three nights a week for three months or more, it may meet the criteria for Insomnia Disorder — but you don’t need a diagnosis to benefit from support. Ongoing poor sleep is worth addressing in its own right.

What Causes Insomnia

Sleep problems rarely come from a single cause. Psychologists often think about insomnia in terms of three kinds of factors:

• Predisposing factors – a naturally light sleeper, a tendency to anxiety, or a family history of poor sleep
• Precipitating factors – a stressful life event, illness, a new baby, shift work, grief, or a change in routine that first disrupted sleep
• Perpetuating factors – the habits and thoughts that build up around poor sleep and keep it going, such as napping, spending long hours in bed awake, clock-watching, or worrying about the consequences of not sleeping

It’s often these perpetuating factors — not the original trigger — that keep insomnia going long after the initial cause has passed. This is exactly what psychological treatment addresses.

Treatment Approaches

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is internationally recognised as the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia, recommended ahead of sleep medication by Australian and international sleep medicine guidelines. Research shows it improves sleep in up to 80% of people who complete it, with most able to reduce or stop sleep medication, and the benefits tend to last well after treatment ends.

Your psychologist may draw on:

• Sleep restriction therapy – adjusting time spent in bed to consolidate and strengthen sleep
• Stimulus control – rebuilding the association between your bed and sleep, rather than wakefulness and worry
• Cognitive therapy – identifying and gently challenging unhelpful thoughts and beliefs about sleep
• Relaxation training – breathing, progressive muscle relaxation and imagery to reduce pre-sleep tension
• Sleep education – understanding your own sleep patterns and the factors keeping insomnia going, often tracked through a simple sleep diary

Treatment is individualised: your psychologist will take time to understand your sleep history, routines, and the thoughts and habits that have built up around it before designing a program suited to you. Insomnia can also occur alongside anxiety, depression, chronic pain or other health conditions, and your psychologist will work with these where relevant.

Get Support for Your Sleep

If poor sleep has been affecting your days as well as your nights, our psychologists can help. Appointments are available in person at Rose Park or via telehealth. Contact us and our friendly reception team will help you find the right psychologist for you.