Understanding Sleeplessness: Perspectives on Insomnia

by David N. Neubauer MD, Paul R. McHugh MD (Foreword by)

Overview

Seemingly the most natural and necessary of pursuits, a good night's sleep eludes a remarkable number of people—up to 50 percent of the general population, according to studies, while 10 to 15 percent suffer from severe or chronic sleep disorders. Because the causes and nature of sleeplessness are so many and varied—and often as elusive as sleep itself—the diagnosis and treatment require a flexible, multifaceted approach—and this is precisely what David N. Neubauer lays out in Understanding Sleeplessness.

Building on the "four perspectives" conceptualized by McHugh and Slavney in The Perspectives of Psychiatry, Neubauer offers a much-needed explanation of the diverse ways of understanding what insomnia is and what should be done about it. He begins by surveying what is currently known about the mechanisms of "normal sleep" and, in this light, describing the problems of defining, assessing, and measuring insomnia. Drawing examples from patients studied at the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Center, Neubauer then applies each of the four perspectives—diseases, dimensions, behaviors, life stories—to the varied kinds and degrees of sleeplessness. Finally, calling on the full range of perspectives on insomnia, he outlines an integrated approach to evaluation and treatment. His work will be of great interest and value to those who study and treat sleeplessness and to those who wish to understand this widespread and vexing problem.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801881305
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David N. Neubauer, M.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and associate director of the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Center.

Paul R. McHugh, M.D., is the Henry Phipps Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, the former director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the coauthor of The Perspectives of Psychiatry, also available from Johns Hopkins. He was selected by President George W. Bush to sit on the Presidential Council on Bioethics and by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to be on their National Review Board for the elimination of the sexual abuse of children by clergy.

Read an Excerpt

"With this book, Neubauer provides a coherent approach to the study of insomnia. (Indeed, he has in the process provided a model for the study of other psychiatric complaints.) Here is a thorough, case-illustrated account of the links tying insomnia to the characteristics of normal sleep—links of a kind that give significance to this common complaint and reveal it as a problem in life to be studied in psychological terms familiar to all psychiatrists."—Paul R. McHugh M.D., from the foreword

Table of Contents

Foreword, by Paul R. McHugh, M.D.
Acknowledgments
1. The Problems with Insomnia
2. Normal Sleep: What We Know and How We Know It
3. Sleep as a Motivated Behavior
4. The Dimensions of Sleep
5. Life as the Context of Sleep
6. Insomnia as a Symptom or a Disease
7. Evaluation and Treatment: The Need for Integration
Appendix: Sleep Medicine Resources
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

While aimed at clinicians, this book's conversational style and anecdotal examples will appeal to lay readers, too. Troubled sleepers will find plenty of good reasons to make an appointment with the doctor.
—Books for Sleepless Nights

An excellent and creative integration of psychiatric theory and sleep medicine.
—Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

From the Publisher

An excellent and creative integration of psychiatric theory and sleep medicine.

Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

While aimed at clinicians, this book's conversational style and anecdotal examples will appeal to lay readers, too. Troubled sleepers will find plenty of good reasons to make an appointment with the doctor.

Books for Sleepless Nights