Genetics Stress and Trauma as Causes of Insomnia
One disorder of consciousness is insomnia and involves the inability to lose consciousness in sleep. The DSM-V defines insomnia as difficulty initiating sleep, maintaining sleep, wakefulness when one wishes to sleep and dissatisfaction with the quality or quantity of one’s sleep (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The etiology of insomnia is that stress is the typical causal factor but trauma may also contribute to it. Cox, Taylor, Strachan and Olatunji (2020) show that insomnia and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) share similar symptoms, suggesting that trauma and insomnia are linked. Whatever the cause, insomnia involves abnormal neurological control, with neurotransmitter systems failing to connect, and the functional nervous system pathways being blocked. Abnormal brain structures are typically found in the frontal cortex, hippocampus and/or anterior cingulate cortex. Lifestyle and environment have been determined to be the main contributors to insomnia as this is where stress and trauma are commonly located (Cox et al., 2020), while genetics have been studied, most etiology is located in mental health rather than biological genetic factors (Lind & Gehrman, 2016).
Diagnosis is determined by physical exam, sleep habits review and sleep study. 3 nights of inability to sleep per week is typical criteria. Short-term insomnia is consistent for under 3 months; long-term is consistent for longer than 3 months. Options for care interventions include changing sleep habits, cognitive behavioral therapy to deal with stress, light therapy, stimulus control therapy and pharmacological therapy.
My knowledge of sleep disorders would help me in my professional life by making sure I am mindful of my own stress levels and how stress affects others. I would be able to better assist my clients, students and patients with this knowledge because I would be able to see that sleep is often a manifestation of our inner calm and if we cannot attain that calm it is a question of what irritation is going on preventing it from being felt, and so that is a place to start for discovery.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5 (5th ed.). https://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/book/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
Cox, R. C., Taylor, S., Strachan, E., & Olatunji, B. O. (2020). Insomnia and posttraumatic stress symptoms: Evidence of shared etiology. Psychiatry research, 286, 112548.
Lind, M. J., & Gehrman, P. R. (2016). Genetic pathways to insomnia. Brain sciences, 6(4), 64.
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