Sleep deprivation treatment in depression: a review.

IN recent years, in a number of centres in different countries, depriving the patient of his night's sleep has been tried as a treatment for depression. Table I shows the findings from ten centres. Pflug and Tolle (1971) sleep-deprived fifty-seven subjects. The twenty-three healthy subjects and the eleven patients with neurotic depression showed little change in mood, as measured by rating scales. The authors found marked improvement in the twentythree patients with endogenous depression. The greatest changes were in mood, suicidal tendency and retardation. They found improvement was 'not always maintained' and suggested combination of sleep deprivation with antidepressant drugs. Lit (1973) sleep-deprived thirty-nine depressed patients once or twice weekly. He found total recovery in thirteen, partial improvement in thirteen, and no change in eight. Five stopped because of negative results. He found the best results in serious vital depressions. Voss and Kind (1974) sleep-deprived thirteen depressed outpatients. They found a beneficial effect in eight. Seven of their nine patients with endogenous depression responded well with 'amelioration