August 16, 2022

Are you taking medication for sleep? Each year, the American Academy for Sleep Medicine (AASM), considered among the nation’s top independent resources on sleep research, conducts an independent clinical reviews of the efficacy of popular sleep medications.

The determined that NONE of the medications reviewed had beyond weak recommendation for chronic insomnia:

Suvorexant (weak recommendation)

Eszopiclone (weak recommendation) 

Zaleplon (weak recommendation)

Zolpidem (weak recommendation)

Triazolam (weak recommendation)

Temazepam (weak recommendation)

Ramelteon (weak recommendation)

Doxepin (weak recommendation)

Trazodone (weak recommendation)

Tiagabine (weak recommendation)

Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) (weak recommendation)

Melatonin (weak recommendation)

L-tryptophan (weak recommendation)

Valerian (weak recommendation)

Literature Reviews 

Estazolam (weak recommendation)

Quazepam (weak recommendation)

Flurazepam (weak recommendation)

Oxazepam (weak recommendation)

Quetiapine (weak recommendation)

Gabapentin (weak recommendation)

Paroxetine (weak recommendation)

Trimipramine (weak recommendation)

Instead, they recommend CBT-I therapy as the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia:
https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8986

More on AASM’s pharmaceutical reviews here: https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.6470#T4

October 23, 2020
Study of 15,000+ participants shows that lesbians, gays, and bisexuals (LGBs) have more trouble with sleep and insomnia than heterosexuals, due to minority stress (Patterson, Tate, and Sumontha, 2018).

October 18, 2020
Anthropologist, academic, and psychoanalyst Robert Paul, PhD shares with the International Psychoanalytic Association Podcast ” IPA Off the Couch” about how he lives in these three worlds.

Episode 69: A Life in Academia, Anthropology, and Psychoanalysis with Robert Paul, PhD