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Psychophysiological Insomnia

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Clinical Handbook of Insomnia

Part of the book series: Current Clinical Neurology ((CCNEU))

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Abstract

The International Classification of Sleep Disorders defines psychophysiological insomnia as “a disorder of somatized tension and learned sleep-preventing associations that results in a complaint of insomnia and associated decreased functioning during wakefulness” (1). Psychophysiological insomnia is included under the category of primary insomnias in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) (2). It is also commonly referred to as learned or conditioned insomnia and less commonly as functionally autonomous or internal arousal insomnia.

O sleep! O gentle sleep! Nature’s soft nurse, how have I frightened thee, That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down and steep my senses in forgetfulness?

—William Shakespeare (King Henry IV part 2 Act III Scene I)

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  1. Hrayr P. Attarian
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  1. Sleep Program in Neurology and Sleep Laboratory of the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratories, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT, USA

    Hrayr P. Attarian MD

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Attarian, H.P. (2004). Psychophysiological Insomnia. In: Attarian, H.P. (eds) Clinical Handbook of Insomnia. Current Clinical Neurology. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-662-1_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-662-1_6

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61737-465-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-662-1

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