There are recurrent periods of irrepressible need to sleep, lapsing into sleep, or napping within the same day.
These episodes occur at least 3 times per week over the past 3 months.

At least one of the following is present: episodes of cataplexy, hypocretin deficiency, or REM sleep latency abnormalities on sleep testing consistent with narcolepsy.

Narcolepsy is a central disorder of sleep-wake regulation marked by chronic daytime sleepiness and, in some patients, cataplexy, REM-related hallucinations, sleep paralysis, or fragmented nighttime sleep. In practice, the story often comes out as irresistible sleep episodes and a lifetime of feeling abnormally sleepy.
Core symptom: Excessive daytime sleepiness is the anchor symptom. The person is often sleepy even after what sounds like adequate nighttime sleep.
Cataplexy matters: When present, cataplexy strongly shifts the differential and points toward narcolepsy type 1.
Workup: Diagnosis usually depends on sleep medicine testing, especially polysomnography plus MSLT, and sometimes CSF hypocretin data.
Clinical focus: Common office-based measure of subjective daytime sleepiness.

Common office-based measure of subjective daytime sleepiness.

Core specialist diagnostic test in narcolepsy evaluation.

Useful in follow-up when ability to stay awake is the key clinical question.

Several wake-promoting agents and alerting medications carry narcolepsy labeling, though product-specific indications and age ranges differ.

Oxybate products are important FDA-approved options when cataplexy or severe daytime sleepiness is part of the narcolepsy picture.

Interventional psychiatry modalities are not standard treatments for narcolepsy.
Management is usually behavioral plus medication-based within sleep medicine.
ECT, TMS, and ketamine are not standard narcolepsy treatments.

Simple Psych

Narcolepsy