Reconsidering Insomnia as a Disorder Rather Than Just a Symptom in Psychiatric Practice

Article Abstract ‹ Click to enlarge page Insomnia is a common feature of many psychiatric disorders but can also be a comorbid disorder, often contributing to poor outcomes and treatment failure. For some patients who do respond to psychiatric treatment, their insomnia persists after their mood symptoms have remitted, indicating that their insomnia needs to be a separate focus of treatment. In this CME Academic Highlights, Drs Ruth Benca and Daniel Buysse discuss how to effectively evaluate patients with psychiatric disorders for comorbid insomnia, as well as how to safely and effectively implement both behavioral and pharmacologic treatments. From the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine (Dr Benca) and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania (Dr Buysse).†‹