Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia & Sleep Anxiety
Can’t Sleep Even When You’re Exhausted?
If sleep has become frustrating, unpredictable, or stressful, therapy can help.
I work with people whose insomnia is often influenced by an overactive mind, stress, or anxiety even when it doesn’t feel like anxiety.
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation
Evidence-based sleep therapy • 16+ years in practice • Adults in California
When Sleep Stops Coming Easily
Many people come to therapy saying some version of this:
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You feel tired all day, but wired at night
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Your mind gets busy as soon as you try to sleep
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You start worrying about whether you will sleep and how tomorrow will feel
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Bedtime becomes tense instead of restorative
At some point, sleep stops being automatic and starts feeling like something you have to manage.
Why Insomnia So Often Turns Into a Cycle
Insomnia rarely starts as a sleep disorder.
For many people, it begins during periods of stress, change, or disrupted sleep. Over time, the body learns to stay alert at night. Sleep effort increases. Worry about sleep builds even if you do not feel anxious during the day.
This pattern is common.
And it is very treatable.
How These Struggles Are Often Connected
People arrive at therapy through different doors. Sleep problems are often the first one.
I work with three common and overlapping patterns:
Insomnia & Sleep Disruption
Stop treating sleep like a nightly emergency.
Evidence-based CBT-I and ACT-I helps reset your sleep system, break the cycle of nighttime anxiety, and rebuild trust with your bed. Whether you’re dealing with long-term insomnia, early-morning awakenings, or sleep anxiety, we use proven strategies to help your mind and body learn how to rest again.
Anxiety & Overthinking
Train your brain to stand down, day and night.
If your mind spends all day in “What if?” mode, it’s no surprise that bedtime feels impossible. We work on chronic worry, rumination, overthinking, and the stress patterns that keep your nervous system in high alert. You’ll learn tools to calm your mind and body both during the day and at night.
High Achievers & Perfectionism
Recover from burnout without losing your edge
High achievers often push through stress without realizing how much it fuels anxiety and sleep disruption. Together, we work on people-pleasing, performance pressure, boundary challenges, relationship tension, and the patterns that keep you running on adrenaline — even when you’re exhausted.
Sleep is often the loudest symptom, but it’s rarely the whole story.
Therapy That Addresses What Is Keeping Sleep Away
My work focuses on insomnia that is influenced by:
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Mental overactivity and rumination
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Stress and nervous system hyperarousal
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Worry about sleep itself
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Anxiety that shows up mostly at night
Using CBT-I and anxiety-informed strategies, we focus on calming the system, reducing sleep-related fear, and allowing sleep to return naturally. This is not about trying harder to sleep.
It is about removing what is interfering with it.
What to Expect From Therapy
Therapy is structured, practical, and collaborative.
Most clients can expect:
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Short-term, goal-focused treatment
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Weekly online sessions
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Clear tools you can use right away
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Attention to both sleep patterns and what is fueling them
Sessions are held securely online and available to clients throughout California.
About Anissa Bell LMFT
Therapy works best when you feel connected to the person you’re working with. Here’s a little about me and how I show up in this work.
I’ve been a therapist for more than sixteen years, helping people untangle anxiety, chronic worry, and the stress patterns that keep them on edge.
As my work evolved, I developed a strong focus on insomnia and sleep anxiety, combining evidence-based approaches such as CBT-I and ACT-I with grounded conversations about the pressures, habits, and relationships that shape how you live, and how you sleep.
I help clients understand what’s actually driving their sleep and anxiety struggles, build practical skills that fit real life, and make changes that feel doable rather than overwhelming.
As a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), I’m trained to understand how thoughts, emotions, stress, and relationships influence the nervous system and daily functioning. This includes evidence-based treatment for anxiety, behavioral change, and the patterns that commonly contribute to sleep problems.
What Clients Often Notice
“Sleep stopped being the thing I worried about all day.”
“I did not realize how anxious my nights had become until they were not anymore.”
“It helped to understand what was actually keeping me awake.”
Ready to Talk About Your Sleep?
If insomnia has started to take over your nights or your days, a brief consultation can help clarify next steps.
In a free 15-minute call, we can talk about:
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What has been happening with your sleep
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Whether therapy is a good fit
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What kind of support may help