What is sleeping beauty syndrome, symptoms of manifestation and who is susceptible to it, how to deal with such an ailment. It's important to know! Although the disease is considered incurable, it usually clears up on its own by age 30. What is the reason for this is unknown.
Ways to deal with Sleeping Beauty Syndrome
Sleeping beauty syndrome or Kleine-Levin syndrome is an extremely rare disease, and therefore poorly understood. To date, it is not possible to completely eliminate its causes. If it has already come, the patient is sent to the hospital, where doctors are trying to stop the course of the onset of hibernation. To alleviate the symptoms of the syndrome, the help of a psychologist is needed. It is irreplaceable even when the sleeping "handsome" or "beauty" has already left the "embrace of Morpheus." The psychotherapist will teach loved ones how to behave in such a situation so that they do not harm the awakened person with their behavior.
Treatment of the sleeping beauty syndrome in a hospital
That such an extremely rare disease is incurable is emphasized by a case that took place in the Urals. There, a girl with Sleeping Beauty Syndrome appeared in an ordinary family. And for more than a year, doctors have been monitoring her, but they cannot do anything. The girl was only five months old when she suddenly fell asleep, she was taken to the hospital, where she woke up only two days later. And she acted as if nothing had happened. A few days later the girl fell asleep again. Analyzes have not clarified anything. Heart, brain, nervous system were in perfect order. Only when the child woke up did his temperature rise slightly. And so this is a completely ordinary child, is capricious in moderation, like all children at this age. The parents were checked, but they were healthy. Samples of air, water, background radiation in the apartment were also normal. Doctors only in bewilderment threw up their hands and diagnosed the child with "hypersomnia of unknown genesis", that is, the girl had a pathological sleep, and why is it completely incomprehensible. And for more than a year now, Anya Metelkina has been sleeping up to six days in a row. Not only Russian doctors became interested in this phenomenon. Specialists from Germany and Great Britain are ready to help. In the meantime, the girl "rests", periodically waking up. Parents of the Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, which nature has awarded their daughter, are not at all happy. We can only hope that with age the girl will "outgrow" her illness. And everything will be decided by itself. In any case, the statistics of such a disease shows that it often goes away without medical intervention.
In especially severe cases, when mental disorders are manifested against the background of Kleine-Levin syndrome, patients are placed in a psychiatric hospital. Most often, these patients are prescribed psychostimulants. It can be tranquilizers, antidepressants, antipsychotics. Lithium preparations have especially proven themselves. Together, all these medicines reduce periods of hibernation and smooth out other negative symptoms of the disease. Sometimes electroconvulsive therapy (electroshock) is prescribed, when a small discharge current pulse is applied to the brain, trying in this way to bring the patient to “feeling”. This method was also applied to the Ural girl, but to no avail. It's important to know! Doctors will only help the patient to feel more "comfortable". They are not able to completely remove him from the state of hypersomnia.
Psychological treatments for sleeping beauty syndrome
Psychoanalysis should be attributed primarily to the psychological methods of treating Kleine-Levin syndrome. Sometimes they use the techniques of art therapy and symbol drama.
Let's consider the features of psychological assistance in more detail:
- Psychoanalysis … Psychoanalysis is based on Freud's doctrine of the combination of the conscious and the unconscious, the role of sexual experiences in the behavior of a person. The psychotherapist invites the patient to express everything that hurts his soul, and he listens attentively. Freely communicating, the patient unaccountably expresses his worries, deeply buried in the subconscious. Analysis of involuntary experiences helps to identify the causes of the disease. Psychoanalytic methods such as interpretation of dreams and analysis of errors are also aimed at this.
- Art therapy … The art therapy method involves the treatment of art and creativity. Psychological personality correction occurs by influencing emotions. This technique is especially valuable when working with children. If your child is sick with Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, this technique can help him cope with the inconvenience of the illness and improve mental health. An example is such an interesting technique as puppet therapy, when with the help of a puppet theater one can successfully influence the psychoemotional state of sick children and adolescents, and correct their behavior.
- Symboldrama … A very effective method of psychotherapy, which is also called "waking dreams." It lies in the work of the imagination. The patient is asked a topic or he chooses himself, and then plays the situation as he perceives it. The psychotherapist observes, as it were, from the side, and later analyzes the behavior and psychoemotional state of the patient. Based on this, he draws his own conclusions and gives recommendations on how to behave. For example, before an exacerbation of Kleine-Levin syndrome or after an attack.
All these are only auxiliary methods of treating the sleeping beauty syndrome. They help the patient to become aware of their illness in order to facilitate its course.
Helping loved ones with sleeping beauty syndrome
The role of relatives is extremely important here. Without them, the sick person is literally like no hands. This is eloquently emphasized by the case of the Ural girl Anya. Parents put their daughter to bed, monitor her condition during sleep, wake her up to feed. Without them, the little man is just helpless. If the sick person is much older in age, he still cannot do without outside help. Only close people will help him survive his syndrome and re-enter the normal rhythm of life.
In order for loved ones to know how to deal with a sick sleeping beauty syndrome, they also need the help of a psychologist. He will teach them how to handle the patient correctly.
What is Sleeping Beauty Syndrome - watch the video:
Worldwide, there are no more than 1000 people with such a rare and strange disease as Sleeping Beauty Syndrome. This is a disease of childhood and young age, in most cases it is associated with hormonal changes in the body in adolescents. Although experts suggest various reasons that can cause it, the disease is considered incurable, but this does not mean that everything is so hopeless. Statistics convincingly show that over the years, hypersomnia can go away on its own. And then the person who suffered from it returns to a healthy lifestyle.
