Psychoeducation in obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS)

• Main Authors: Franklin Escobar-Córdoba, Jorge Echeverry-Chabur
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Nacional de Colombia 2017-08-01
• Series: Revista de la Facultad de Medicina
• Subjects: Síndromes de la apnea del sueño; Salud mental; Terapéutica.
• Online Access: https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/revfacmed/article/view/59544

Psychoeducation is a complementary alternative to the usual treatments for patients with sleep apnea, which allows them to learn to know their disease. It is related to the field of mental health and allows the affected patients to identify their nosological entity and to cooperate in a participatory and active way in the established treatment. In order to treat sleep apnea, that patients know the characteristics of the disease and the treatment is important since they become aware of it, thus achieving greater adherence to the treatments. There are several types of therapy: individual therapy, which is characterized as support provided by mental health professionals to the patient; couple and family therapy, which offer psychological help for the management of sleep apnea and its side effects, and group therapy, which educates about the entity and its treatment by sharing positive experiences with the group. Field intervention at work and progressive desensitization and relaxation techniques are also used to improve the adhesion to positive pressure in the airway (PAP) therapy.