Developmental features of sleep

Sleep disorders are common in children and adolescents who present for psyc hological or psychiatric evaluation. A thorough understanding of sleep and sleep disorders is important for psychiatrists and other mental health prof essionals, as there is often a relationship among sleep, medical, and psych iatric issues. Not only may sleep disorders be mistaken for psychiatric or psychological disorders, but medical and psychiatric disorders can cause sl eep disturbances. The purpose of this article is to provide detailed inform ation about sleep and its evaluation, discuss the most common sleep disorde rs seen in children and adolescents, and provide an understanding of the re lationships among sleep disturbances and medical and psychiatric disorders.