DBT-Sleep: Foundational
- Seamlessly assess & treat sleep disruption & insomnia in your DBT practice.
- Free 60-minute group consultation each week with Dr. Brian Curtis, PhD, DBSM through Zoom. Get your questions answered & learn from the questions of other DBT-Sleep: Foundational clinicians.
- Earn 18.0 CE hours.
- One dedicated course space in our private DBT-Sleep: Foundational community platform to connect with other DBT-Sleep clinicians & support one another.
- Lifetime access to the DBT-Sleep: Foundational course curriculum.
Sleep Disruption in DBT: Research indicates ~ 50% of your BPD clients are currently experiencing chronic difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking earlier than desired (i.e., insomnia), with ~ 25% experiencing all 3 of these difficulties (Selby, 2013; Asaad et al, 2002).
Sleep & Suicide: Sleep disruption & insomnia symptoms are well-established risk factors for non-suicidal self-injury, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, & suicide death (McCall, 2022; Semiz et al, 2008; Winsper & Tang, 2014), with ~ 75% of individuals who attempted suicide reporting difficulty falling asleep & ~ 70% reporting difficulty staying asleep (Sjöström et al, 2007).
Saving Lives by Treating Sleep in DBT: Treating comorbid sleep disruption & insomnia has been shown to not only improve sleep duration & quality, but also result in clinically meaningful reductions in suicidal ideation, PTSD severity, substance use, anxiety, & depression (Trockel et al, 2015; Bishop et al, 2015; Taylor & Pruiksma, 2014), resulting in recommendations to integrate the assessment & treatment of sleep disruption in DBT (Grove et al, 2017; Van Veen et al, 2017; Van Trigt et al, 2022; Winsper et al, 2017).
Overcoming Barriers: Although DBT is one of the few evidence-based treatments to specifically highlight sleep disruption as a vulnerability factor for emotion dysregulation (e.g., the optional one-page sleep hygiene & nightmare protocol handouts), there is no protocol for routine assessment, daily monitoring, or treatment of sleep disruption in DBT. DBT-Sleep: Foundational overcomes these barriers by offering the same step-by-step process Dr. Curtis uses in his clinical practice to assess & treat sleep disruption & insomnia in DBT.
Expert Training & Free Weekly Group Consultation: Dr. Brian Curtis, PhD, DBSM: Dr. Curtis is one of only 218 clinicians in the world who is board certified in behavioral sleep medicine (DBSM) and the only DBSM clinician with advanced training and specialization in DBT. Given this unique expertise, Dr. Curtis has been sought out to offer many trainings on integrating sleep assessment and treatment in DBT. The DBT-Sleep courses represent the culmination of Dr. Curtis' efforts to make the assessment and treatment of co-morbid sleep disruption a standard component of DBT, with free 60-minute weekly group consultation through Zoom offered through the exclusive DBT-Sleep: Foundational Community.
Course Objectives:
- Describe the prevalence & consequences of sleep disruptions in DBT client populations.
- Explain the functions of sleep, the circadian & homeostatic processes regulating sleep, & how this knowledge informs clinical assessment & treatment.
- Describe diagnostic criteria & use standard assessment measures for clinically relevant sleep-wake disorders including insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, obstructive sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, & nightmare disorder.
- Explain in detail a step-by-step process for conducting a sleep-focused intake interview including standardized assessment measures in sleep medicine.
- Discuss & practice implementing the central components of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), Mindfulness-Based Therapy for Insomnia (MBT-I), & the Transdiagnostic Intervention for Sleep & Circadian Dysfunction (TranS-C) while integrating the use of core skills in DBT to increase the effectiveness of sleep-focused treatment.
- Explain evidence-based methods for gradual tapering of various sleep medications in coordination with client’s prescribing clinician(s).
- Apply knowledge from this course using case examples to generate a case conceptualization, individualized treatment plan, & know when referral to a sleep specialist may be warranted.
- Ensure ongoing effective assessment & treatment of sleep disruption & insomnia in DBT with free weekly 60-minute group Zoom consultation with Dr. Brian Curtis, PhD, DBSM through the exclusive DBT-Sleep: Foundational Community.


- Selby, E. A. (2013). Chronic sleep disturbances and borderline personality disorder symptoms. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 81 (5), 941–947.
- Asaad,T., Okasha, T., & Okasha, A. (2002). Sleep EEG findings in ICD-10 borderline personality disorder in Egypt. Journal of Affective Disorders, 71, 11–18.
- McCall, W. V. (2022) Targeting insomnia symptoms as a path to reduction of suicide risk: The role of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). Sleep, 45 (5), 1-3.
- Semiz, U. B., Basoglu, C., Ebrinc, S., & Cetin, M. (2008). Nightmare disorder, dream anxiety, and subjective sleep quality in patients with borderline personality disorder. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 62 (1), 48–55.
- Winsper, C. & Tang, N. K. Y. (2014). Linkages between insomnia and suicidality: Prospective associations, high-risk subgroups and possible psychological mechanisms. International Review of Psychiatry, 26 (2), 189–204.
- Sjöström, N., Wærn, M., & Hetta, J. (2007). Nightmares and sleep disturbances in relation to suicidality in suicide attempters. Sleep, 30 (1), 91–95.
- Trockel, M., Karlin, B. E., Taylor, C. B., Brown, G. K., & Manber, R. (2015). Effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia on suicidal ideation in veterans. Sleep, 38(2), 259–265.
- Bishop, T. M., Britton, P. C., Knox, K. L., & Pigeon, W. R. (2015). Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and imagery rehearsal in combat veterans with comorbid posttraumatic stress: A case series. Military Behavioral Health, 4 (1), 58–64.
- Taylor, D. J., & Pruiksma, K. E. (2014). Cognitive and behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) in psychiatric populations: A systematic review. International Review of Psychiatry, 26 (2), 205–213.
- Grove, J. L., Smith, T. W., Crowell, S. E., & Ellis, J. H. (2017). Preliminary evidence for emotion dysregulation as a mechanism underlying poor sleep quality in borderline personality disorder. Journal of Personality Disorders, 31 (4), 542–552.
- Van Veen, M. M., Karsten, J., & Lancel, M. (2017). Poor sleep and its relation to impulsivity in patients with antisocial or borderline personality disorders. Behavioral Medicine, 43 (3), 218–226.
- Van Tright, S., Van Der Zweerde, T., Van Straten, A., & Van Marle, H. J. F. (2022). Guided internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in patients with borderline personality disorder: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Internet Interventions, 29, 1–8.
- Winsper, C., Tang, N. K. Y., Marwaha, S., Ranya Lereya, S., Gibbs, M., Thompson, A., & Singh, S. P. (2017). The sleep phenotype of Borderline Personality Disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 73, 48–67.

DBT-Sleep: Advanced
Coming in 2024.
Coming in 2024: Coming in 2024.
Coming in 2024: Coming in 2024.

- Coming in 2024
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