Update on nonpharmacological interventions in parasomnias

ABSTRACT

Parasomnias are abnormal behaviors that occur during sleep and can be associated, in particular during adulthood, with impaired sleep quality, daytime dysfunction, and occasionally with violent and harmful nocturnal behaviors. In these cases, therapies are often considered. Longterm pharmacological treatments are not always well tolerated and often have limited efficacy. Therefore, behavioral approaches remain an important treatment option for several types of parasomnias. However, the evidence-based approaches are limited. In the current review, we highlight results from various nonpharmacological techniques on different types of parasomnias and provide a glimpse into the future of nonpharmacological treatments in this field.

KEYWORDS:

• Behavioral therapies
• non-pharmacological therapies
• Parasomnias
• arousal disorders
• sleep disturbances

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. med. Pinelopi Anagnostopoulou for critical reading the manuscript

Authors disclosures

Maria Ntafouli, Andrea Galbiati, Claudio L. Bassetti and Panagiotis Bargiotas have nothing to disclose.

Mary Gazea has received a funding by the German Research Foundation (DFG, GA 2410/1-1 to M. G.)

The contents of the paper and the opinions expressed within are those of the authors, and it was the decision of the authors to submit the manuscript for publication.

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.