PMID: 16633547Apr 25, 2006Paper

Sleep disorders in psychiatric practice.

World Psychiatry : Official Journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA)
Waldemar Szelenberger, C R Soldatos

Abstract

Over the last years, a large body of evidence has accumulated showing that complaints of disordered sleep are quite prevalent in the community. Insomnia is by far the most common disturbance and is often associated with concurrent psychiatric illness, in particular anxiety and mood disorders. On the other hand, sleep complaints are frequently present among psychiatric patients and have been incorporated in the official diagnostic criteria for many mental disorders, such as major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and substance-related disorders. Estimates of the prevalence of sleep disorders diverge widely, because these disorders have been variously conceptualized. Currently, however, three different classifications for sleep disorders establish reliable diagnostic criteria and allow for more consistency in clinical research. In particular, the ICD-10 diagnostic criteria for insomnia helped to establish a consensus among sleep specialists by defining accurately this clinical condition, i.e. by conceptualizing it as the subjective complaint of insufficient or non-restorative sleep, which is the important feature, not the actual amount of time spent asleep. Alongside the evolution of taxonom...Continue Reading

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