Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T06:38:24.690Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Successful Treatment of Night Terrors and Somnambulism with Paroxetine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

A. R. Lillywhite
Affiliation:
Psychopharmacology Unit, School of Medical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS18 1TD
S. J. Wilson
Affiliation:
Psychopharmacology Unit, School of Medical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS18 1TD
D. J. Nutt*
Affiliation:
Psychopharmacology Unit, School of Medical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS18 1TD
*
Correspondence

Abstract

A patient with a 30-year history of somnambulism and night terrors is described. The use of a home ambulatory sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) recording in clarifying the diagnosis and in monitoring the results of treatment is illustrated and successful treatment using a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor is reported.

Type
Short Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agnew, H. W., Webb, W. B. & Williams, R. L. (1967) Comparison of stage 4 and REM sleep deprivation. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 24, 851858.Google Scholar
Cowen, P. J. & Nutt, D. J. (1982) Abstinence symptoms after withdrawal of tranquillizing drugs: is there a common neurochemical mechanism? Lancet, ii, 360362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hauri, P. J., Friedman, M. & Ravaris, C. L. (1989) Sleep in patients with spontaneous panic attacks. Sleep, 12, 323337.Google Scholar
Horne, J. A. (1993) Human sleep, sleep loss and behaviour. British Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 413419.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, L. C. (1969) Psychological and physiological changes following total sleep deprivation. In Sleep, Physiology and Pathology (ed. Kales, A.). Philadelphia: Lippincott.Google Scholar
Kales, J. D., Kales, A., Soldatos, C. R., et al (1980) Night terrors: clinical characteristics and personality patterns. Archives of General Psychiatry, 37, 14131417.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lesser, I. M., Poland, R. E., Holcomb, C., et al (1985) Electroencephalographic study of night-time panic attacks (single case study). Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 173, 744746.Google Scholar
Mellman, T. A. & Uhde, T. W. (1989) Electroencephalographic sleep in panic disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 178184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nicholson, A. N. & Pascoe, P. A. (1986) 5-Hydroxytryptamine and noradrenaline uptake inhibition: studies on sleep in man. Neuropharmacology, 25, 10791083.Google Scholar
Petitjean, F., Buda, C., Janin, M., et al (1978) Patterns of sleep alteration following selective raphe nuclei lesions. Sleep, 8, 4452.Google Scholar
Sharpley, A. L. & Idzikowski, C. (1991) Neurotransmitters and sleep. In Serotonin, Sleep and Mental Disorder (eds Idzikowski, C. & Cowen, P. J.), pp. 195213. Petersfield: Wrightson.Google Scholar
Sharpley, A. L., Solomon, R. A. & Cowen, P. J. (1988) Evaluation of first night effect using ambulatory monitoring and automatic sleep stage analysis. Sleep, 11, 273276.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westernberg, H. G. M. & den Boer, J. A. (1985) Serotonergic basis of panic disorder. In Psychopharmacology of Panic (ed. Montgomery, S. A.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.