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Hypersomnia and Narcolepsy

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Sleep Medicine and Mental Health

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Abstract

Hypersomnia is a group of disorders characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness despite age-appropriate duration of nightly sleep. While inadequate sleep hygiene and/or medication(s) are common causes of daytime sleepiness, disorders of hypersomnolence should also be considered. Furthermore, there are many similar features, including signs and symptoms, between both hypersomnolence disorders and various psychiatric conditions. Finally, psychiatric conditions are often comorbid in disorders of hypersomnolence. Thus, it is critical to obtain a thorough investigative history and to conduct appropriate diagnostic testing in patients presenting with excessive daytime sleepiness. In this chapter, central disorders of hypersomnolence will be reviewed including a discussion of how to establish a diagnosis and how to treat these disorders. Throughout this chapter, overlapping features of psychiatric disorders will be highlighted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Division of Respiratory, Medicine University of California-San Diego and Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Rakesh Bhattacharjee

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  1. Rakesh Bhattacharjee
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Correspondence to Rakesh Bhattacharjee .

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  1. Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Mount Laurel, NJ, USA

    Karim Sedky

  2. Mount Laurel, NJ, USA

    Racha Nazir

  3. College of Medicine, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    David Bennett

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Bhattacharjee, R. (2020). Hypersomnia and Narcolepsy. In: Sedky, K., Nazir, R., Bennett, D. (eds) Sleep Medicine and Mental Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44447-1_9

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