Somnambulism: Co-occurrence with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Pages: 1272-1274
Phoram Trivedi (Consultant Psychologist, CIMS Hospital, Ahmedabad)
Tatpar Joshipura (Khyati Institute of Physiotherapy, Army Cantonment, Ahmedabad, Gujarat)

With an extremely rare occurrence, especially in adults, sleep walking, medically known as Somnambulism remains a much under studied area in the arena of sleep disorders. This case study aims to discuss the treatment of an 18 year old female who presented with two episodes of somnambulism following prolonged anxiety and sleep difficulties. The patient’s medical and psychotherapeutic treatment continued over a period of six months. Cognitive behavioral intervention coupled with a sound therapeutic rapport helped achieve collaborative goals of setting proper sleep patterns through better management of anxiety and other negative feelings. Outpatient follow-up after six months showed no occurrence of somnambulism or sleep disturbance and anxiety was greatly reduced too. Structured CBT can thus be used as first line treatment to manage sleep disorders.