COMMENTARY

The Evaluation and Management of the Anxious Insomniac

Karl Doghramji, MD

March 02, 2004

The Prevalence and Impact of Insomnia and Anxiety Disorders

A staggering 50% of adult Americans report having experienced insomnia sometime during their lives.^[1] Ten percent of adult Americans experience difficulties with sleep lasting more than 2 weeks at a time. In 1995, 5.9 million office visits were due to the complaint of insomnia.^[2] Anxiety is also a ubiquitous human emotion, and anxiety disorders represent, as a group, the most common type of psychiatric condition, affecting 25% of adults at some point in their lives.^[3]

Despite the frequency of these 2 conditions, it is surprising that they often go unaddressed. Only 6% of all insomniacs schedule a visit with their physicians specifically for insomnia. Twenty-four percent address the difficulty with their physicians as a secondary complaint, and the vast majority (70%) does not seek medical help for the problem at all. However, 40% of insomniacs do seek assistance for their malady in the form of over-the-counter sleep aids or alcohol, which often compound the difficulty.^[2] Similarly, only one third of anxiety disorder sufferers receive treatment.^[4]

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Cite this: The Evaluation and Management of the Anxious Insomniac - Medscape - Mar 03, 2004.

The Prevalence and Impact of Insomnia and Anxiety Disorders
The Clinical Presentations and Differential Diagnoses of Insomnia and Anxiety
Interrelationships Between Insomnia and Anxiety
Evaluation and Management of the Anxious Insomniac
Conclusions
References

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