Story Ideas for Media 2-4-08

Research

Insomnia patients often denied sleep treatment when they have mental health conditions. Patients with insomnia who are diagnosed with accompanying mental health ailments often are not prescribed medication that will help them sleep – which could then make related anxiety or depression worse, new research suggests.
"Insomnia can cause you to have anxiety and depression, and depression and anxiety can cause you to have insomnia. It's a chicken-and-egg type of story. But research has shown that if one of the conditions is left untreated it can exacerbate the other condition," said senior study author Rajesh Balkrishnan, the Merrell Dow professor of pharmacy at Ohio State University.
"What this calls for is specific guidelines related to the treatment of insomnia that takes into consideration these different types of patients, because insomnia has become such a big public health problem." CONTACT: