Sleep can be considered a model for mental illness as a reversible delirium. Sleep is intimately associated with aminergic, cholinergic and gabaergic neuromodulators, which are also associated with mental illness. Sleep and sleep disorders may provide a useful window to advance our understanding of the complexities of the brain neurophysiology underlying the mechanisms of brain disorders that result in mental illness.

This book aims to provide a comprehensive review of sleep and mental illness. This it achieves with aplomb. A thought-provoking foreword is followed by chapters divided into three subsections. The basic sciences section is up to date and concise, with useful tables and relevant references. The neurophysiology of sleep and neurophysiological abnormalities of sleep associated with depression and insomnia are explored. Animal models of sleep and stress, with implications for the potential role of sleep in the processing of emotional events, are discussed in a dedicated chapter.

Section 2 addresses neuroendocrinology, including changes observed in disturbed sleep and depression. Gender differences in peptidergic sleep regulation are highlighted as a contributor to the higher risk of depression in females. The fascinating relationship between sleep and eating highlights the overlapping neuroendocrine influences of orexin, ghrelin, leptin and cortisol. The expanding role of melatonin from circadian rhythm regulation to disruption in affective disorders, use of dim light in melatonin onset and putative roles in neuroprotection offer intriguing insights into future directions for translational research.

Section 3 forms the largest component of this volume and is devoted to clinical aspects of sleep and mental illness. Current best practice for the assessment and management of common sleep disorders encountered in psychiatric practice is discussed by experts in the field. Insomnia receives particular consideration, justified in view of the evidence that it is a predictor for anxiety disorders, affective illness and psychosis. The parasomnias are addressed in a chapter dedicated to forensic aspects of sleep in psychiatric patients.

There are few shortfalls in the book but the management of parasomnias needs to be expanded. Narcolepsy is discussed briefly in a chapter on the classification of sleep disorders but my view would be that it deserves a dedicated chapter. Klein–Levin syndrome is rare but on balance needs more consideration than a fleeting reference.

This volume is intended to be a resource for the multidisciplinary management of sleep disorders. It will be most useful to psychiatrists and psychologists. However, other sleep specialists, including basic scientists, neurologists and respiratory physicians, will also find it an invaluable resource.