Sleep and wakefulness are fundamental behavioral and neurobiological states that characterize all higher animals, including human beings.

     Concise yet comprehensive, Sleep Disorders and Psychiatry, the latest volume in American Psychiatric Publishing's popular Review of Psychiatry Series, presents the cumulative experience of 12 experts who talk about what sleep is and why sleep is essential to maintaining good health, summarizing the major categories of sleep disorders and detailing how virtually every psychiatric disorder and a wide variety of medical illnesses adversely affect sleep.

Sleep Disorders and Psychiatry is the ideal companion to busy psychiatric clinicians because it is:

• Comprehensive, covering all information of particular relevance to psychiatric clinicians.
   
• Enhanced by numerous tables and illustrations that make it easy to understand and reference while “on the go” during everyday practice.
   
• Clearly structured and easy to understand, with chapters organized according to the major categories of sleep disorders most likely to be encountered in psychiatric clinical practice.

     The fascinating introduction discusses the functions of sleep and the consequences of sleep deprivation, including the complex neurobiology of circadian rhythms, sleep and wakefulness, the clinical assessment and management of sleep and circadian rhythm disorders, and the pros and cons of tools for taking an accurate history. Each of the six subsequent chapters in Sleep Disorders and Psychiatry follows the same format by detailing the definitions and clinical description, epidemiology, etiology and pathogenesis, and treatment for a major category of sleep disorder: insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy and syndromes of central nervous system–mediated sleepiness, restless legs syndrome, parasomnias, and circadian rhythm sleep disorders.

     Further, Sleep Disorders and Psychiatry provides psychiatrists with the tools necessary to embark upon exciting collaborations with specialists from other areas of clinical medicine (psychologists, pulmonologists, neurologists and surgeons). Given the importance of behavioral and psychopharmacologic interventions in managing sleep disorders, psychiatrists can often make valuable contributions to the care of medically ill patients with these conditions.

     Abundantly referenced and illustrated, Sleep Disorders and Psychiatry is the ultimate practical resource for busy clinicians interested in the broad and growing field of sleep disorders.