Zara Drapkin Psychotherapy

Sleep is meant to be a time when our bodies restore, rejuvenate, and repair.

But for many folks I work with—those living with chronic pain, complex trauma, or anxiety—sleep can feel anything but restful. It can be difficult to quiet the mind, calm the body, or not get consumed by inner pain (whether physical, mental, or both). For these folks, sleep rarely feels restorative.

Many have been told about sleep hygiene over and over again—by friends, family, doctors, and the internet. And while those tools can be helpful, you cannot out-hygiene a nervous system that does not feel safe.

In therapy, we focus on bringing nervous system regulation into the wind-down process. We work with ways to gently defuse from racing thoughts, bring calmness—or even just okayness—to a dysregulated body, and develop tools to work with nightmares when they’re part of the sleep disruption cycle.

Sleep is deeply impacted by physical pain, trauma, and emotional pain. And at the same time, sleep is a crucial part of the healing process. This can be a sticky, painful battle—but there are tools that can create shifts and help reclaim rest as restorative.

If this is a battle you’re fighting, it may be worth reaching out for support that goes beyond the simple (and still healthy) sleep hygiene tips that are regurgitated everywhere. There are more tools out there—and you don’t have to fight this alone. 💜💜

We can create such tangles of thoughts and stories in our heads and they can bring profound suffering. Much of therapy- at least in how I approach it- is about defusing from our thoughts and stories, connecting to our body, and having the ability to step forward rooted in our personal values and from a place of curiosity and compassion. This all sounds nice and lovely, but it’s a HARD practice. I call it a practice because we return to it time and time again.
Sometimes I find myself getting pulled into the tangled stories. When I catch myself, I practice using art as a way to observe my experience and as an opening for another way to engage. I like to bring in process based materials like alcohol inks and intuitive collage making. Art therapy can be a great tool to defuse from our thoughts and stories and bring an engaging curiosity to what we are experiencing.