A systematic review of treatments for sleepwalking: 100 years of case studies

Abstract

While generally harmless, sleepwalking can result in injury to the sleepwalker and/or others, prompting help-seeking. This is the first study to systematically review the scientific evidence underpinning treatments for sleepwalking. A literature search of CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, PubMed, and ScienceDirect was conducted with the keywords 'sleepwalking' OR 'somnambulism', current to 29 February 2016. Studies were included if they reported on any intervention for sleepwalking.Of the original 53 sourced papers, 44 met the inclusion criteria and were subsequently included for review. None had a methodology that could demonstrate efficacy or effectiveness. Case and case series reports dominate the literature with patients treated with a range of psychological, pharmacological and other interventions. While the results of this review highlight potential treatments, well-designed randomized control trials of theoretically supported interventions that include assessment of adverse effects are urgently needed. Psychological interventions-scheduled waking and hypnosis-are potential first line interventions for evaluation, especially with children, as they are theoretically grounded, case studies suggest they may be effective, and they do not have the side-effects of pharmacological interventions.

Somnambulism: Recent Findings

“…Other types of treatments include hypnosis [67,68], psychotherapy, aversive behavioral therapy [69], and the use of customized bed alarms. A recent review with 60 references by de Cock [70] is recommended for additional details on this theme.…”

Manual de trastornos del sueño

“…Se recomienda bloquear puertas y ventanas externas y retirar objetos que se puedan romper, no se recomienda encerrar a los sonámbulos en sus habitaciones, especialmente niños, porque representa un riesgo para su seguridad en caso de emergencia. Ya que la intimidación (buylling), aumenta el riesgo de parasomnias en los niños, los cuidadores, padres, maestros, consejeros escolares y médicos deben considerar interrogar sobre estas experiencias a los niños, para proporcionarles ayuda en una etapa temprana y reducir los efectos negativos de ser acosados (Wolke y Lereya, 2014;Stallman, 2017;Stallman y Kohler, 2017).…”

The assessment and treatment of autism spectrum disorder: A cultural examination.

“…ASD is much less common than are other neurocognitive disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which is currently diagnosed in about one in nine children between the ages of 4 and 17 (Visser et al, 2014). Affecting about 1.5% of children, ASD currently occurs at about the same rate as does sleepwalking in adults within a given year (Stallman & Kohler, 2016).…”