Chest ACCP Education Calendar
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Guest Access | Sign In via User Name/Password
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Free
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) Free
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Article Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Cramer Bornemann, M. A.
Right arrow Articles by Schenck, C. H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Cramer Bornemann, M. A.
Right arrow Articles by Schenck, C. H.
Related Content
Right arrow Contemporary Reviews in Sleep Medicine
(Chest. 2006;130:605-610.)
© 2006 American College of Chest Physicians

Parasomnias*

Clinical Features and Forensic Implications

Michel A. Cramer Bornemann, MD; Mark W. Mahowald, MD and Carlos H. Schenck, MD

* From the Departments of Neurology (Drs. Cramer Bornemann and Mahowald) and Psychiatry (Dr. Schenck), Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center, Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN.

Correspondence to: Michel A. Cramer Bornemann, MD, Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center, Hennepin County Medical Center, 701 Park Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55415; e-mail: michel9626{at}yahoo.com

Abstract

Parasomnias are undesirable behavioral or experiential phenomena arising from the sleep period. Once felt to be a unitary phenomenon, it is now clear that a wide variety of sleep disorders are capable of resulting in complex behaviors arising during sleep. The most common are disorders of arousal and rapid eye movement sleep disorder. Less common conditions include nocturnal seizures and psychogenic dissociative states. Malingering and Munchausen syndrome by proxy, while they are not actually parasomnias, may masquerade as parasomnias. Careful clinical and sleep laboratory evaluation can usually provide an accurate diagnosis with effective therapeutic implications. Due to the potential forensic implications, sleep medicine specialists may be asked to participate in legal proceedings resulting from sleep-related violence. An awareness of the spectrum of such behaviors, and their clinical and legal evaluation, is becoming more important in the practice of sleep medicine.

Key Words: disorders of arousal • nocturnal seizures • parasomnias • rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder • sleep-related violence






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2006 by the American College of Chest Physicians.