Our moods also pursue us at night.
Some common mental disorders, such as depression, generalized anxiety or panic attacks (which are acute anxiety states) are associated with painful insomnia.
Sometimes these diseases are even diagnosed during a consultation for sleep problems.
Major depressive episodes, with loss of desire, self-esteem, energy, are accompanied by difficulty sleeping.
"Sleep disorders in depression are almost systematic," assures Professor Michel Lejoyeux, psychiatrist, head of department in the Bichat hospitals in Paris and Beaujon in Hauts-de-Seine, and author of the book "Les quatre temps de la renaissance ”published in 2020 by Lattès (198 p., 19.90 euros).
It is, most often, very early awakening in the morning, in a person overwhelmed by the idea of a day that is beginning and that he does not know how to face, more rarely difficulty falling asleep.
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Very standardized care
The treatment of depression, now very standardized, based on antidepressants and behavioral therapies, also helps to overcome insomnia. Generalized anxiety especially disturbs falling asleep. Panic attacks can be associated with waking up in the middle of the night, with a pounding heart and a feeling of near death. The recommendations for treatment are also very clear: give as few tranquilizers as possible. And set up psychotherapies, associated with small doses of antidepressants.
These psychotherapies aim to identify situations or thoughts that trigger anxiety, in order to learn to overcome them.
“For example, my hands are sweaty, we say to ourselves:
This means that I am sick, that it is serious, that I am going to die
,” says Professor Lejoyeux.
These false beliefs must be corrected.
At the same time, antidepressants, which work through serotonin, will decrease the frequency and severity of symptoms.
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A few sessions may be enough to cure anxiety, and therefore insomnia.
The general practitioner is also often able to identify and deal with these situations.