Sleep is not won
by trying harder.
The harder you try to sleep, the more awake you become. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia breaks exactly that cycle — structured, in a few weeks, without relying on a pill.
21 Panagi Tsaldari St., Melissia, Athens
Insomnia
Onset, maintenance, chronic
CBT-I
First-line treatment
Sleep laboratory
Errikos Dynan
Welcome
Sleep is my clinical field. It is not one of the services I offer — it is the only field I trained in and the one I work in every day.
A private practice in Melissia, Athens, with specialist training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia from the Hellenic Association for Cognitive Behavioural Studies, and a working relationship with the Sleep Laboratory of Errikos Dynan Hospital Center — so that where laboratory testing is needed, it happens.
0–0%
of adults experience symptoms of insomnia
0–0%
meet the criteria for chronic insomnia
0–0 wks
is how long a full CBT-I protocol runs
0st
line of treatment in international clinical guidelines
What people come with
Sleep breaks down in many different ways
Each one calls for a different intervention. The first step is always to work out what we are actually dealing with.
- 01
Sleep-onset insomnia
You lie down and sleep does not come. The time it takes you to fall asleep is consistently over 20–30 minutes.
Read more→ - 02
Sleep-maintenance insomnia
You fall asleep, but you wake during the night and struggle to get back to sleep.
Read more→ - 03
Chronic insomnia
Difficulty at least three nights a week, for at least three months, with a clear impact on your day.
Read more→ - 04
Parasomnias
Sleepwalking, night terrors, sleep talking, behaviours during the night.
Read more→ - 05
Nightmares
Intensely distressing dreams that wake you and leave you afraid to go back to sleep.
Read more→ - 06
Circadian disorders
Your body clock is out of step with your schedule — delayed phase, shift work, jet lag.
Read more→ - 07
Insomnia & anxiety
When insomnia coexists with anxiety or depressive symptoms.
Read more→ - 08
Coming off sleeping pills
Sleep that depends on the pill, with tolerance to the dose and fear of stopping.
Read more→
The treatment
Five components, one structured course of four to eight weeks
Component 01Sleep restrictionThe most powerful component of the treatment. We temporarily compress the time you spend in bed so that it matches the time you actually sleep. Sleep becomes denser and continuous, and is then gradually extended.
The psychologist
Michail Mermigkis
A psychologist with specialist training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia and the parasomnias. Collaborator of the Sleep Laboratory at Errikos Dynan Hospital Center, with clinical experience at the 414 Military Hospital and NIMTS.
His undergraduate research examined the prevalence and characteristics of insomnia in the Greek population. The work is done with instruments and measurements — a sleep diary, validated scales, weekly reassessment — so that progress is visible.
The first session
What happens at the first appointment
Nothing is asked of you on day one. The first session is an assessment.
Sleep history
When it started, what triggered it, what you have already tried, what your day looks like.
Psychometric assessment
Validated scales, so the starting point is measured rather than an impression.
Sleep diary
One week of recording. First we measure, then we change.
Plan or referral
The treatment plan is drawn up — or a referral is made for laboratory testing, where that is needed.
Athens Insomnia Scale
Eight questions. Two minutes.
A first, clear picture.
A validated screening instrument of Greek origin, used internationally. Your result is calculated on your device and is not sent anywhere. Try the first two questions here.
Partial score
0/6
These are two of the eight questions. The scale only makes sense as a whole — the 6/24 cut-off applies to the full test.
Continue to all 8 questionsAnswer both to see how it works.
Frequently asked
What people usually ask before the first appointment
CBT-I is brief and structured: typically 4 to 8 weekly sessions. It is not open-ended psychotherapy with no horizon — there is a plan from the first session, and the first changes in sleep usually show within the first two to three weeks.
There is, and this is often exactly the right moment. CBT-I is combined with medication and is the evidence-based route to reducing it gradually, when the doctor who prescribed it decides the time is right. No change to your medication is ever made by a psychologist — it is made by the physician, with therapy supporting the process.
Sleep hygiene is one component, and the weakest one. On its own it rarely resolves chronic insomnia. CBT-I adds the two ingredients that genuinely change the picture: restricting time in bed and stimulus control, together with work on the thoughts that keep the brain alert.
This is the most common misconception. Anxiety often starts insomnia, but it is not what keeps it going. After a few months insomnia becomes independent: it is sustained by the behaviours we adopt to cope with it. That is why treating insomnia directly works even when the anxiety remains — and usually reduces it as well.
Appointments
One phone call is enough to get started
Appointments are arranged by phone. On the first call we talk briefly about what is going on, so that the right initial assessment can be set up.