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Emily, I strongly suggest asking your regular doctor if he knows anyone who does cognitive sleep therapy.
I doubt anyone here will be able to solve your problems the way a cognitive sleep therapist could, but I can give you a few suggestions. I don't know if you're doing these things already, but here's what I was told when I went to go see a neurologist:
*First, use your bed ONLY for sleep. (...Well, and...OTHER things. I don't know if you have a boyfriend (or a girlfriend)...but...that's allowed, too. Ahem.) You need to get your body to associate bed with sleep and relaxation. So, at night, when you're NOT tired and can't fall asleep within - I think the doctor I talked to said - half an hour of laying down, get out of your bed. Keep your lights dimmed, and do something relaxing in another room, like reading, or writing, or drawing...
*Second, keep your bedroom quiet. Get your TV out of there if you have one, take any stereo you have and put it somewhere away from your bedroom. Anything electronic (aside from your alarm clock) probably involves bright lights, and can detract from your ability to sleep.
*Third, along those lines, keep your room DARK. No night lights, no digital clocks blaring in your face (if you need a digital clock, I might suggest getting one that doesn't use bright red light, and turn it away from your face. Red's not a good color for relaxation).
*Fourth, the doctor told me it's bad to have a clock in your room. You can keep your cell phone somewhere away from you where you can't open your eyes and see how long you've been laying in your bed awake. You need to lose your sense of "omg, I've been awake so long and haven't fallen asleep!" so I suggest trying to get rid of any clock you can clearly see from your bed.
*Fifth, before you go to sleep, take every measure possible to relax yourself. Drink a cup of decaffeinated tea, drink warm milk, cuddle a kitten, read a chapter of your favorite book - anything that WON'T stress your body out. (Along those lines, if you work out, work out early in the day so the adrenaline won't affect your sleep. I had this problem, too.)
*Sixth, set your alarm for the same time EVERY SINGLE DAY. If you have to get up at 8am to get ready for your part-time job and get there on time on the days you work, wake up at 8am on the days you don't work, too. Even if you haven't slept much. Don't sleep in. Train your body to sleep within a certain time period.
Believe me, I know, easier said than done, but from reading your question, it sounds like you're not giving your body the right guidelines. You're trying to sleep whenever you can, which I totally understand, but what you've gotta do is sleep when you need to. Give yourself a 7-9 hour block in which it would be non-disruptive for you to sleep. As I suggested, if you have to get up at 8am, start sleeping at, say, midnight, if you want 8 hours. Even if you don't REALLY sleep at midnight, set your alarm for 8 every single day. Get up at 8. Don't let yourself take naps, don't sleep earlier than 12, don't get up later than 8, even if you don't have to get up that early. Eventually, your body will bend to what you want it to do. In theory, that is.
And, not that I advocate the use of drugs, but you might want to invest in some nyquil, tylenol pm, or benadryl. They're all over the counter meds (benadryl is actually an antihistamine, but works wonders as far as making its taker drowsy), and they might help you fall asleep when you need to so that you can get used to waking up when you have to, and falling asleep when you need to.
Again, I strongly suggest you speak to a cognitive sleep therapist, a neurologist - there could be a physical reason you can't sleep - or anyone who might help you medically with this problem. Your depression could definitely play a big part in this, but to control this situation, you really do need a doctor, not a pool of advice columnists.
I hope you found some of the help you needed in my answer - if not, I hope you find the help you need.
-Siren =)
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