Psychosocial Features of Brazilian Patients with Paradoxical Insomnia: A Qualitative Study

Psychosocial Features of Brazilian Patients with Paradoxical Insomnia: A Qualitative Study

Introduction: According to International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD), Sleep State Misperception (SSM), recently renamed ‘Paradoxical Insomnia’ (PI), is a disorder in which a complaint of severe insomnia occurs without objective evidence of sleep disturbance, and without a significant impairment of daytime function. The present study aims to identify psychosocial features of patients with PI, exploring life history, and sociocultural and familiar environment issues. Methods: We studied PI patients from the Neuro-Sono Sleep Center, Department of Neurology, and São Paulo Hospital Sleep Laboratory, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil. In this study, we identified 60 patients (33 females), with confirmed PI diagnosis among 2000 medical files and 1735 PSG studies. Semi structured interviews were conducted with 20 patients, following a script of questions about birthplace, family, childhood, sleep, moves, present life and perceptions. We performed content analysis on the interviews searching interviewees’ feelings, thoughts, and social and familiar insertion.