PARASOMNIAS – CURRENT STATE OF THE ISSUE

Abstract

This article presents current views over the issue of parasomnias, and provides their classification including the awakening disorders, parasomnias linked to phase of fast sleep, and other parasomnias. The role of objective sleep examination by polysomnography with mandatory video monitoring is emphasized. For differential diagnosis of parasomnia causes, the most important is the revelation of epileptic nature of this phenomenon. In case when parasomnias do not threat patients’ social adaptation, patients require no therapy. At the same time, some medications can be administered that are mostly represented by drugs increasing cerebral GABA-ergic potential, antidepressants and anxiolytics, as well as non-medicinal therapy, such as psychotherapy, behavioral therapy, acupuncture or phototherapy. A particular attention should be paid to adult parasomnias which occur for the first time, since these, as a rule, are secondary and disguise other underlying diseases.