Direct costs include dollars spent on insomnia treatments, healthcare services, hospital and nursing home care. Twenty-five percent of Americans take some type of medication every year to help them sleep. Sleep difficulties cause problems in accomplishing daily activities. Behavioral approaches have proven ineffective and the person is unwilling to try them. A person is suffering insomnia-related distress and beginning behavioral therapy.
Insomnia is temporary or short-term.
These are the most effective sleep aids available. The particular medication prescribed to treat insomnia should depend on a patient's diagnosis, medical condition, use of alcohol or other drugs, age, and need to function when awakened during the usual sleep period. If the cause of the sleep problem is depression, an antidepressant may be the best solution. Increasingly, some sedating antidepressants have been prescribed in low doses for insomnia. However, many experts believe that in the absence of clinical depression, there is little evidence to support the use of these drugs for insomnia.