PTSD: National Center for PTSD

Mobile App: CBT-i Coach for Providers

CBT-i Coach is a mobile application (app) designed for use by people who are participating in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-i) treatment guided by a healthcare professional. Sleep difficulties are very common among people with PTSD, and research suggests CBT-i has great benefit, sometimes with better results than medication.

CBT-i patients are taught to recognize how thoughts and sleep-related behaviors affect their sleep patterns. The mobile app is downloaded on to a patient's mobile device to be used as a treatment companion during CBT-i therapy.

Features include:

• Interactive sleep diary for daily logging of sleep habits.
• Validated measure of insomnia severity, the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI).
• Automatic calculation of the sleep prescription with therapist adjustment options.
• Tools to improve sleep, including relaxation exercises.
• Psychoeducation about sleep, healthy habits and CBT-I therapy.
• Customizable reminders to alert user to sleep hygiene, to record sleep habits, and to take sleep assessments.

How to Use CBT-i Coach

CBT-i Coach is a mobile app intended to augment face-to-face care with a healthcare professional. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia is available at many VA/DoD and other mental health clinics.

Treatment with pharmaceuticals is an option for people suffering from insomnia symptoms, but research suggests that CBT-i, a specific adaptation of cognitive behavioral therapy to insomnia, can also have tremendous benefit, sometimes with better results than medication.

CBT-i Coach is based on the therapy manual Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Veterans; and, CBT-i has been shown to be an efficacious treatment for insomnia in a number of clinical trials, including when it co-occurs with other medical and psychiatric conditions.

CBT-i Coach helps patients adjust and maintain sleep routines and their approach to sleep in order to enhance sleep quality and duration. Health care providers can recommend the app as a supplement to enhance treatment outside of face-to-face contact, and/or to encourage patient wellness through self-management.

NOTE: CBT-i Coach is not meant to be a replacement for face-to-face treatment. This app is a supplement to clinical care for insomnia in patients with PTSD.

Privacy and Security

Any data created by the user of this app are only as secure as the phone/device itself. Use the security features on your device if you are concerned about the privacy of your information. Users are free to share data, but as the self-monitoring data belong to each user, HIPAA concerns do not apply while the data is stored or shared. If the user were to transmit or share data with a health care provider, the provider must then comply with HIPAA rules.

Who Created CBT-i Coach

CBT-i Coach was created by the VA's National Center for PTSD in partnership with Stanford University Medical Center, the Department of Defense's DoD's DHA Connected Health and VA Sierra Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, & Clinical Center.