Mental Illnesses

Part III

Sleep Disorders

Narcolepsy Insomnia Sleep Paralysis Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome Sleepwalking

Narcolepsy

Characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness periods of muscle weakness (cataplexy)

Can cause accidents and injury from falling asleep while driving or doing other dangerous tasks

Insomnia

Inability to sleep Very common disorder Ongoing insomnia leads to sleep

deprivation, which can inhibit• Ability to concentrate

• Memory

• Immune system

• Hallucinations

Sleep Paralysis Consists of a period of inability to perform

voluntary movements either at sleep onset or upon awakening

A victim in this state feels awake, but he cannot move or speak

In addition to the immobility, the common symptoms include feeling choked or suffocated, hearing strange noises like footsteps and voices, seeing beings or dark shadows, and feeling an existence of someone in the room

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

Reversal of normal circadian rhythms Sleeping at night is impossible Excessive daytime sleepiness has

negative impact on life

Sleepwalking

Walking or talking while asleep Relatively common Not usually harmful, but had been

attributed to murders and suicides (see article)

Hypochondria

Belief that physical symptoms are signs of a serious illness, even when there is no medical evidence to support the presence of an illness

Hypochondriacs seek out reassurance from family, friends, or health care providers on a regular basis.• They feel better for a short time at most, and then

begin to worry about the same symptoms, or about new symptoms.

Munchausen Syndrome

A condition in which a person intentionally fakes, simulates, worsens, or self-induces an injury or illness for the main purpose of being treated like a medical patient• named after a German military man, Baron von

Munchausen, who traveled around telling fantastic tales about his imaginary exploits

Known to move from doctor to doctor, hospital to hospital, or town to town to find a new audience

Munchausen By Proxy Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome (MBPS) is

characterized by a parent, usually the mother, who intentionally causes illness in her child

The mother may fake symptoms of illness in her child by• withholding food

• secretly giving the child drugs to make the child throw up or have diarrhea

• infecting intravenous (given through a vein) lines to make the child appear or become ill

The parent is usually very helpful in the hospital setting and is often appreciated by the nursing staff for the care she gives her child

Eating Disorders

Abnormal eating habits, usually caused by a distorted body image

May involved abnormal/unhealthy exercise routines• Anorexia

• Bulimia

• Dysmorphia (“Bigorexia”, Adonis Complex)

Eating Disorders

See article “Disorder takes its toll” What are the psychological tolls of

starvation and purging? What are the physiological effects of

starvation and purging? Why is it “virtually impossible” for an

anorexic to cure themselves? How are these disorders treated?

Eating Disorders

See article on p. 103