Advance ticket sales have ended but plenty of additional tickets remain available at the door.
Profs and Pints DC presents: “Dealing with Insomnia,” on the causes of and cures for recurrent sleepless nights, with Brian A. Sharpless, licensed clinical psychologist, former faculty member at Penn State University and Washington State University, and author of Psychodynamic Therapy Techniques.
Sleep ranks as one of the top two most satisfying things someone can do in bed. Unfortunately, for many people it is a scarce commodity—hard to maintain or ultimately not refreshing.
If you suffer from it, coming to this entertaining and easy-to-understand talk on insomnia might be one of the smartest things you can do with your waking hours.
The speaker, Brian Sharpless, is a regular on the Profs and Pints stage who previously has given great talks on subjects such as narcissism, conspiracy beliefs, and unusual sexual behavior. This time out he’ll give a crash course on what’s known about insomnia—a condition that can have massive impacts on well-being and health. He’ll also talk about its treatments, which include both cheap and simple measures and, for severe cases, a specific form of psychotherapy called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I).
You’ll learn how insomnia has a long history in human culture and many famous sufferers and yet remains widely misunderstood. Dr. Sharpless will bust myths that are not helpful for sufferers, including the claim that everyone needs eight hours of sleep per night to be healthy.
The talk will give a brief overview of “sexsomnia,” “exploding head syndrome,” and other strange conditions that can arise from insomnia or sleep disruption.
Turning his attention to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), Dr. Sharpless will discuss the main components of this brief and effective treatment, what it looks like in practice, and research supporting it.
You’ll probably think about sleep differently as a result of this talk. You might even go home and sleep better than you’d expected. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image from Canva.