Assignment: Sleep/Wake Disorders and Parasomnias

Sleep is essential for a healthy mind and body, and lack of quality sleep can cause distress during the daytime. Sleep disorders can involve difficulties with quality, timing, and amount of sleep and frequently accompany other disorders, especially depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Obtaining a good sleep history is essential to diagnosing sleep disorders, prescribing a treatment plan, and monitoring the plan's effectiveness. Understanding and managing sleep problems frequently leads to improvement in other mental health disorders that the patient is experiencing.

You will analyze the diagnostic criteria and treatment options of insomnia, hypersomnolence, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, non-rapid eye movement, nightmare disorder, sleep behavior disorder, and other DSM-5 sleep and parasomnic disorders.

Treatment of Sleep/Wake Disorders

The power of sleep to heal the body cannot be underestimated. Most research indicates that 7-8 hours of sleep are a minimum that people need to stay healthy. Clients who come to the PMHNP's office frequently complain of sleep problems. It is estimated that 10-20% of patients report some type of sleeping problem.

In this Discussion, you will analyze the diagnostic criteria and evidence-based psychotherapy and psychopharmacologic treatment for sleep/wake disorders.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Analyze diagnostic criteria for sleep/wake disorders
• Analyze evidence-based psychotherapy and psychopharmacologic treatment for sleep/wake disorders
• Analyze criteria for referring clients to primary care physicians for treatment of sleep/wake disorders
• Compare differential diagnostic features of sleep/wake disorders

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., & Ruiz, P. (2014). Kaplan & Sadock's synopsis of psychiatry: Behavioral sciences/clinical psychiatry (11th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.

• Chapter 13, "Psychosomatic Medicine" (pp. 465-503)
• Chapter 16, "Normal Sleep and Sleep-Wake Disorders" (pp. 533-563)

Gabbard, G. O. (2014). Gabbard's treatment of psychiatric disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publications.

• Chapter 36, "Sleep-Wake Disorders"

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

• "Sleep-Wake Disorders"

Stahl, S. M. (2014). Prescriber's Guide: Stahl's Essential Psychopharmacology (5th ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

To access information on specific medications, click on The Prescriber's Guide, 5th Ed. tab on the Stahl Online website and select the appropriate medication.