Sleep diary

Any client with insomnia, hypersomnia, or sleep complaints alongside mood disorders. Two weeks is usually the minimum to spot patterns. If a client reports sleep is fine but still presents with daytime fatigue and low mood, the diary often surprises them.

The form is a single repeating block, at least 14 rows, with 5 sub-fields per row.

A clinical note worth holding: the methods column. If they’re trying screen-in-bed, alcohol, or daytime napping as sleep aids, that’s the conversation. Also look for the gap between hours-slept and reported tiredness. Clients often sleep more than they think and are still exhausted, which points away from sleep restriction and toward something else.

In my-cbt, this is a bundled worksheet you can preview from the library and assign from the case file. The personal message at the top is how you tailor it to this client. Each submission saves to the file with a timestamp. The repeating sections expand on screen instead of running out of room in a margin.