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PSA: The VA & other organizations have psychologists who can help with your sleep apnea treatment

PSA: The VA and other organizations have psychologists who can help with your sleep apnea treatment. They have programs where they employ specially-trained health psychologists and other trained behavioral sleep medicine specialists to help improve the success of your sleep apnea treatment. The VA and other organizations have psychologists who engage in evidence based interventions with special protocols to help with CPAP adherence/ PAP therapy adherence (in the past sometimes referred to as CPAP compliance). While in the past we’ve made the mistake of treating the mind and the body as if they were separate things, we know that they are not. These specially trained psychologists and other behavioral sleep medicine specialists see everyday in their clinical practices how PTSD, mental health conditions, behavioral and other factors have an impact on whether sleep apnea treatment is effective or ineffective. They see everyday how mental health issues can substantially aggravate your sleep apnea. Problems with CPAP adherence are typically not because someone is willful or weak. These specially trained psychologists and other behavioral sleep medicine professionals can help address the factors negatively impacting CPAP adherence and your sleep apnea treatment can be improved through psychological interventions. If you’re having difficulty using your CPAP (ex: you can’t wear it all night) then often the professional that organizations like the VA will refer you to is a specially-trained psychologist. You can speak to your doctor about the availability of being referred to a specially trained health psychologist or other behavioral sleep medicine specialist, and/or programs that they might have that are grounded in psychological science, in order to help you address factors impacting your CPAP adherence (i.e. the problems that are getting in the way of getting the full benefit from your PAP therapy).