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Handouts & questionnaires for sleep, ADHD & fatigue

Here are a collection of handouts, questionnaires and information sheets about sleep, ADHD, and fatigue.  The sleep handouts are mostly based on Colin Espie's excellent self-help book "Overcoming insomnia and sleep problems" and the intention is that the handouts would be used in conjunction with this book - see the bottom of the page for more details. 

Sleep diary and instructions - a key component of Espie's CBT programme is the use of this weekly diary form to both assess the sleep problem initially and then monitor progress.

Sleep diary, measuring progress - this is a form that can be helpful when measuring overall progress using information from the sleep diaries.

Sleep advice - fairly standard general advice about improving sleep. 

Sleep stimulus control - this and sleep restriction (see below) are probably both the most challenging and the most useful components of a CBT approach for insomnia.  

Handouts & questionnaires for wellbeing and calming skills

I continue to slowly add handouts & questionnaires to the relevant area in the website's "Good Knowledge" section.  Here are a some that I use largely in the territory of wellbeing, mindfulness and relaxation.  Some are assessment and monitoring questionnaires.  Some provide orientating information.  Some describe specific exercises to do.

Attention, focus & time - this is a Powerpoint slide that I put together and use as a printed-out handout when discussing what we spend our time paying attention to, and how certain forms of attention focus are likely to be more helpful than others.

Four aspects of inner focus - this is another Powerpoint slide I print out to illustrate some overlapping aspects of mindfulness, meditation, relaxation, self-hypnosis, and other related practices.

Transdiagnostic wellbeing therapy - I put this Powerpoint picture together in a rather tongue in cheek way in a discussion with Tom Borkovec.  Despite its quite light-hearted origin, the diagram makes some useful points. 

Alcohol & food

The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is knowledge of our ignorance

- Benjamin Franklin

Here are a series of information and assessment handouts on alcohol and food.  "We are what we eat" is bit over-simplified, but only a bit.  It's amazing how important what we eat and drink is for our psychological and physical health.  This site's blog posts  "New research shows diet's importance for preventing depression" and "Preventing cancer through life style choices" make this point well and also provide links with many other sources of information.  Searching the tag cloud brings up much recent relevant research and advice.  Try clicking, for example, on

Sleep, ADHD & fatigue

Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all.

- William Temple

This section contains handouts, questionnaires and information sheets about sleep, ADHD, and fatigue.  The sleep handouts are mostly based on Colin Espie's excellent self-help book "Overcoming insomnia and sleep problems" and the intention is that the handouts would be used in conjunction with this book - see the bottom of the page for more details.  

Sleep diary and instructions - a key component of Espie's CBT programme is the use of this weekly diary form to both assess the sleep problem initially and then monitor progress.

Sleep diary, measuring progress - this is a form that can be helpful when measuring overall progress using information from the sleep diaries.

Wellbeing, calming & mindfulness skills

The earth laughs in flowers.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here are a bunch of handouts that I use largely in the territory of wellbeing, mindfulness and relaxation.  Some are assessment and monitoring questionnaires.  Some provide orientating information.  Some describe specific exercises to do.

Bus driver metaphor (available as both Word and PDF handouts) - this is a classic ACT (acceptance & commitment therapy) metaphor.  I've posted a blog post on this often helpful way of viewing things.  It's sensible though to also understand possible limitations of this metaphor

Emotions, feelings & personality

A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor

- Franklin Roosevelt

This section contains handouts and questionnaires about emotions, feelings & personality.  It seems helpful to understand emotions through an evolutionary perspective - we have emotions, to a large extent, because they had (and have) survival value.  We are the descendants of people with adaptive emotional systems that helped them stay alive and function well.  Typically unwelcome feelings that seem maladaptive are due to emotions that are firing off inappropriately.  As a rule of thumb, if an emotion is an appropriate reaction to a situation it can help us respond successfully.  If the emotion is inappropriate then it's likely to be more useful to work to change the emotional response - through therapy or other approaches. 

Life review, traumatic memories & therapeutic writing

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

This section includes charts to help clarify life history, traumatic events, childhood experiences, and therapeutic writing.  It overlaps with some of the handouts given in the linked "PTSD assessment, images, memories & information" section .  I use "therapeutic" writing as a general term covering all types of writing that have been shown to be helpful & "therapeutic".  When describing the form of therapeutic writing, developed by Jamie Pennebaker and other researchers, that focuses particularly on writing one's "deepest thoughts & feelings" about life traumas & difficulties, I tend to use the term "expressive" writing (to distinguish it, for example, from other forms of therapeutic writing focusing on diverse topics such as "best possible selves", "intensely positive

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