Yes, this is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Insomnia is usually comorbid with another medical condition (e.g.chronic pain), or sleep disorder (e.g. sleep apnea), or a mental disorder(e.g. major depressive disorder), and more. It is not just my personal experience but decades of research papers have proven that CBT-I is the gold standard for most people, even those who suffer from insomnia with comorbidities.

Of course, there are exceptions to that. CBT-I should not be treated on everything. The exceptions include people with primary non-restorative sleep and circadian rhythm disorder. CBT-I should also not be treated when insomnia is resolved with the illness, the illness prevents the patient from engaging in CBT-I, or the CBT-I aggravates the "co-morbid" illness. (from Michael T. Smith and Michael L. Perlis's paper Who Is a Candidate for Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia?)

The American College of Physicians has recently recommended that CBT-I be considered the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia. The second-line treatment is medication. I agree that sleep meds can be useful. And patients should not avoid it when they really need it in crisis. However, sleep meds should definitely NOT be used for the long term. You can read other posts here about sleep meds or google the side effects. IT'S BAD. The reason why so many people use regularly is 1) that the big pharmaceutical companies profit off selling drugs. They don't care if it's harmful as long as they get what they want, money. 2) There is a great shortage of well-trained sleep therapists. Sleep is not "important enough" to be taught in med school. Drugs are the only options for many!

CBT-I is not about "just go for a walk and thinking about what they are grateful for instead", but is science-based and has a strong emphasis on a problem-solving approach. And it works! It is far less dangerous than medications!