Insomnia and Hypersomnia among Children and Adolescents with Psychiatric Disorders

The common symptom of sleep disorders is non-restorative sleep, which results in daytime sleepiness. Therefore in clinical practice simultaneous complaints of "not enough" and "too much" sleep are very frequent. For the investigation and treatment of organic sleep disorders, available instruments, guidelines and specialised institutions (sleep centres or sleep laboratories) are more advanced than for non-organic sleep disorders. Especially in the child and adolescent psychiatric and psychotherapeutic field this complicates an appropriate treatment. In addition multiple psychiatric, neurological and other somatic diseases can disrupt night-time sleep and cause impairments during the day too. There are various instruments and methods to cover disturbed nocturnal sleep, some of which have already found widespread use in clinical practice (e.g. sleep diaries or specific questionnaires and interviews). For the examination of daytime sleepiness instruments and methods are available too, which by now seem to be less widely used. Against this background an overview of definitions, distinctive features and clinical instruments as well as guidelines for dealing with "too much and too little sleep" during the day or at night shall be presented.