Following up on last week's awesome failure to launch training, I'm wondering if Eli, Yaara, or others have any specific guidance around helping clients who sleep very late shift their sleep cycle back to a diurnal pattern. Since internet access is sometimes used as a tool in this treatment, I'm wondering if you would consider having parents disconnect access overnight on a standing basis (so there is less of an incentive to stay up) and then reconnect it just during daytime hours if the client has met their behavioral target. I'd be very interested in your thoughts, and any other recommendations or resources on this issue! Thanks!
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As a board-certified behavioral sleep med provider who's worked with teens/young adults with DSWPD (Delayed Sleep-Wake Phase Disorder) I'm a little biased here (smile).
The more "off" their schedule is, and the more established that pattern, the more skeptical I would be that internet access or lack thereof alone would suffice. To best ensure success and stack the deck in in favor it working,, I'd strongly recommend partnering in some way with a behavioral sleep med provider.
I'm a PSYPACT psychologist in private practice, and you can find a number of others like me with this expertise at https://www.behavioralsleep.org/ I often work collaboratively with psychotherapists, providing shorter-term supports or consultation concurrently while parent/child/family therapeutic work is ongoing, and I would imagine that there are many DBSM colleagues who'd do the same, or at least be open to a conversation with you.
Hope that helps!
Hi Elizabeth,
Yes, I have done this with parents, exactly as you described -- Turn off the internet at a certain time and reconnect it once an expectation was met (like adult child wakes up by a certain time and walks the dog).