Sleep is the foundation of mental health. When it's broken, everything else suffers - mood, focus, patience, relationships. You don't have to just live with it.
Insomnia is more than the occasional bad night. Chronic insomnia involves persistent difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking far too early - at least three nights a week, for at least three months - despite having adequate opportunity to sleep. The result is daytime impairment: fatigue, irritability, cognitive fog, and emotional dysregulation.
Sleep and mental health are deeply intertwined. Insomnia can be a symptom of anxiety, depression, PTSD, or bipolar disorder - but it also makes all of those conditions significantly worse. Treating sleep in isolation from mental health (or vice versa) often produces incomplete results.
Sleep problems are also common in people under chronic stress, those managing hypervigilance from trauma, new parents, and anyone whose mind won't quiet down when their body needs rest.
Sleep assessment is built into every initial evaluation I do, because I know how central it is to everything else. Together, we'll look at sleep patterns, contributing factors, and what's keeping your mind active when you need rest - and we'll build a treatment plan that addresses both the sleep problem and any underlying conditions.
Medication can be part of sleep treatment, used thoughtfully and as needed. I also incorporate psychoeducation about sleep hygiene and evidence-based behavioral approaches. All sessions are via telehealth across Virginia, available in English and Tiếng Việt.
If you are in crisis right now, please do not wait for an appointment.
Call or text 988 — the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Free, confidential, available 24/7.
For emergencies, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
Alice Tran Psychiatric Care does not operate 24/7 and does not provide crisis services. Emails, voicemails, text or portal messages are typically responded to within 24 to 72 business hours.
You don't have to do it alone.