AUTHOR=Shen Zhongxia , Shuai Yibin , Mou Shaoqi , Shen Yue , Shen Xinhua , Yang Shengliang TITLE=Case report: Cases of narcolepsy misdiagnosed as other psychiatric disorders JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry VOLUME=13 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.942839 DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2022.942839 ISSN=1664-0640 ABSTRACT=

Narcolepsy is characterized by uncontrollable excessive daytime sleepiness, paroxysmal cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hallucinations. It is often misdiagnosed as psychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia, resulting from the overlap in symptoms and a lack of understanding of narcolepsy. In the present study, three cases of narcolepsy misdiagnosed as depression, dissociative disorder, and schizophrenia are presented to emphasize the high occurrence of the misdiagnosis of narcolepsy in clinical practice. The main reasons for this dilemma are attributed to the lack of adequate sleep, medicine, education, as well as specialized professional technicians. A multi-disciplinary team composed of psychiatrists and sleep specialists should be established to deal with this problem.