Parasomnias

Book excerpt: Parasomnias are phenomena that occur exclusively during sleep or are exacerbated during sleep/wake transition. These disorders are known to contribute towards impaired quality of life, disturbed and non-restorative sleep, risk for injuries to self and others and often associated with other medical, neurological and psychiatric disorders. Advances in sleep medicine have revealed a high prevalence of parasomnias across all ages. With the growing interest for diagnosing and management of parasomnias in sleep medicine, a practical guide to parasomnias is greatly needed. Parasomnias provides a comprehensive review of epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical characteristics, diagnostic evaluation and treatment of parasomnias across the patient’s life span. Written by experts, each chapter integrates the latest research and clinical data. In addition, several chapters address medico-legal and forensic aspects of parasomnias. Clinicians and researchers with an interest in sleep medicine will find Parasomnias to not only be an important contribution to the literature, but an indispensible guide to identifying, understanding and treating this disorder.