title: Psychopathologic correlates of adult sleepwalking.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Sleepwalking (SW) often has been associated with psychopathology, but the nature and magnitude of this relation remains unclear. The aim of our study was to investigate the presence of psychopathology in a large cohort of sleepwalkers and to determine if levels of psychopathology showed differential relations to specific characteristics of the disorder, including clinical history.
  
  
  METHODS
  One-hundred and five sleepwalkers (39 men, 66 women; mean age, 32.4±9.5years) referred to our sleep disorders clinic for chronic SW underwent a comprehensive clinical investigation that included an overnight polysomnography (PSG) assessment in 90% of cases. All participants also completed a series of questionnaires, including the Beck Depression Inventory, Second Revision (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90-R).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The proportion of sleepwalkers who scored above the minimal clinical threshold on the BDI-II, BAI, and SCL-90-R was 27%, 40%, and 28%, respectively. Only 15% of sleepwalkers showed moderate to severe symptoms on the BDI-II and 19% on the BAI. Taken as a whole, these profiles are similar to those observed in the general adult population. The presence of psychopathology in sleepwalkers was associated with a negative family history for SW, a higher frequency of nightmares, and with potentially injurious behaviors enacted during somnambulistic episodes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A majority of adult sleepwalkers consulting for the disorder do not report clinically significant levels of depression or anxiety. Overall, sleepwalkers with and without psychopathology appear more similar than dissimilar.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada; Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine, Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Marc-Antoine
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Labelle
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Desautels
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Montplaisir
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zadra
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography; D011594:Psychometrics; D012894:Sleep Stages; D013009:Somnambulism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Parasomnia; Polysomnogram; Psychopathology; Sleep-related injury; Sleepwalking; Somnambulism