Sleep Quality and Psychological Status in a Group of Italian Prisoners

Abstract

Prison could be considered a prolonged stressful situation that can trigger not only a dysregulation of sleep patterns but can also bring out psychiatric illness, such as anxiety and depression symptoms. Our study is aimed at exploring sleep quality and sleep habits in an Italian prison ward with three different security levels, and to attempt to clarify how anxiety state and the total time spent in prison can moderate insomnia complaints. There were 129 participants divided into three groups who enrolled in this study: 50 were in the medium-security prison ward (Group 1), 58 were in the high-security prison ward (Group 2) and 21 were in the medium-security following a protocol of detention with reduced custodial measures (Group 3). All participants filled in a set of questionnaires that included the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-2), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). Based on their responses, we observed that all participants showed poor sleep quality and insomnia, mild to moderate depressive symptoms that tended to a higher severity in Groups 1 and 3, and the presence of clinically significant anxiety symptoms, mainly in Groups 1 and 3. Our study shows that increased anxiety state-level and the presence of mood alteration corresponds to an increase in both poor sleep quality and, more specifically, insomnia complaints. Finally, we propose that TiP (total time in prison) could have an interesting and stabilizing paradox-function on anxiety state and insomnia.

Mental Health in Prison: Integrating the Perspectives of Prison Staff

“…The most common mental disorders amongst Italian prisoners are psychosis, dissociation, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, substance abuse disorders, and comorbidities [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Suicide is much more frequent in prison settings than in the general population [ 15 ], and, in Italian prisons, one in every 10 prisoners engages in self-injurious behaviour [ 16 , 17 ].…”

Prisoner’s insomnia prevalence, insomnia associated factors and interventions with sleep as an outcome: a review and narrative analysis

“…In terms of sleep-associated factors, studies reviewed found a correlation between insomnia and several mental health disorders and other factors. These included: PTSD (Acar et al , 2019; Geng et al , 2020); depression and gambling addiction (Geng et al , 2020); anxiety and mood alteration (D’Aurizio et al , 2020); a history of sedative use and use of multiple substances (Chinichian and Alemohammad, 2020); rape conviction, criminal assault conviction, use of marijuana and hashish, current use of coffee and poor sleep hygiene (Getachew et al , 2020); and lower pro-social attributes and greater levels of aggression (Barker et al , 2016). These associations add to the pre-2015 findings of Dewa et al ’s (2015) review that insomnia is associated with psychiatric disorders (including specific diagnosis of personality disorder, depression and anxiety), substance misuse (mixed results: a significant association with opiate and cocaine use but not cannabis) and pain.…”

“…The remaining three papers were focussed on associated factors. These included: PTSD (Acar et al , 2019); anxiety and mood alteration (D’Aurizio et al , 2020); lower pro-social attributes and greater levels of aggression (Barker et al , 2016). Some of the papers found in the above “prevalence” group also reported associated factors, which are considered in the discussion section.…”

Treatment of primary eosinophilic colitis using immunoglobulin/histamine complex

“…A general psychiatric evaluation was performed for the patient's sleep disturbance and mood by a clinical psychologist at the Institute of Clinical Psychology using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-2) to evaluate depression, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to evaluate anxiety and the Beck Hopelessness Scores to evaluate hopelessness. 10,11 The clinical severity of chronic spontaneous urticaria was evaluated using the Urticaria Severity Score by Jariwala et al, with a total score of 92 points. 12 For the evaluation of abdominal pain, a gastroenterologist examined the patient.…”