Insomnia Patients Denied Treatment if They Have Mental Disorder

5 February 2008

New researcher by scientists at Ohio State University, suggests that when patients have insomnia, but also have a mental health disorder, they are not prescribed medication for their sleep disorder, which could make the symptoms of their mental disorder (anxiety or depression), even worse.

The researchers at Ohio state university examined treatment data for insomniacs and found that many doctors were reluctant to prescribe even non-dependent sleep medication, if their patients also had depression, anxiety or any other mood disorder. On the other hand, it was discovered that psychiatrists were twice as likely as doctors to prescribe medication for insomnia.

“Insomnia can cause you to have anxiety and depression, and depression and anxiety can cause you to have insomnia. It’s a chicken-and-egg type of story. But research has shown that if one of the conditions is left untreated it can exacerbate the other condition,” said senior study author Rajesh Balkrishnan, the Merrell Dow professor of pharmacy at Ohio State University.

Dr Balkrishnan stated that new guidelines need to be formulated in the treatment of insomnia, which takes into account the different types of patients, because insomnia is a major public health problem. It is estimated that 20% of Americans have some type of sleep disorder, with about 10% of people having some type of chronic sleep disorder. These figures would correlate to other developed countries, such as Australia and the UK.

The major hesitation of primary care physicians (doctors) from prescribing sleep medication is that they can cause dependence, which could prove problematic for someone with an existing mental health disorder.

Older types of sleep medication, called benzodiazepines, have addictive properties and are often abused. New types of sleep medication, on the market, called non-benzodiazepines are not addictive and are effective sleep aids, which these patients should have ready access.

Dr Balkrishnan advised that the research highlights the fact that there are many patients with insomnia who also have a mental health disorder. He also cautioned that the presence of the psychiatric condition should not preclude these patients from proper treatment of the insomnia.



Resources
Ohio State University. Insomnia Patients Often Denied Sleep Treatment When They Have Mental Health Conditions. Accessed 9 February 2008