Behavioural and neurophysiologic features of state dissociation: A brief review of the literature and three descriptive case studies

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Raggi, Alberto | Cosentino, Filomena I.I. | Lanuzza, Bartolo | Ferri, Raffaele

Affiliations: Department of Neurology I.C., Oasi Institute for Research on Mental Retardation and Brain Aging (IRCCS), Troina, Italy

Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. A. Raggi, Department of Neurology I.C., Oasi Institute (IRCCS), Via Conte Ruggero 73, 94018 Troina, Italy. Tel.: +39 935 936111; Fax: +39 935 936694; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Wakefulness, rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep are not always mutually exclusive conditions, as commonly assumed. In some cases, the declaration of any state may be incomplete and states can fluctuate rapidly, resulting in peculiar behavioural syndromes such as narcolepsy, REM sleep behaviour disorder and status dissociatus. We briefly introduce this topic and discuss three suggestive clinical cases.

Keywords: Agrypnia excitata, dissociated states of wakefulness and sleep, fatal familial insomnia, Mulvihill-Smith syndrome, narcolepsy, REM sleep behaviour disorder

DOI: 10.3233/ben-2009-0248

Journal: Behavioural Neurology, vol. 22, no. 3-4, pp. 91-99, 2010