The 12 cases presented depict the problems of patients with psychogenic hypersomnolence. The sleep disturbance can be separated descriptively from that seen in narcolepsy, and psychiatric inquiry permits the patient to focus on interpersonal and intrapsychic problems of importance. Drug therapy is not the treatment of choice. Rather, environmental manipulation, short-term goal-directed therapy or intensive interpretive psychotherapy should be recommended, dependent upon the psychopathologic constellations present in each individual case.Abstract Teaser