Sleep deprivation in depressed adolescents and psychiatric controls.

Up to 70% of depressed adults have an antidepressant response to sleep deprivation. To study the effects of sleep deprivation on depression severity and level of arousal in psychiatrically disturbed adolescents, we deprived 17 patients of sleep for 36 hours. Severity of depression and subjective arousal were assessed at baseline, during sleep deprivation, and after 1 night's recovery sleep. We found that severely depressed adolescents showed a significant decrease in depression severity, whereas depressed patients in remission and psychiatric controls worsened after sleep deprivation. Patients with depression in remission showed a significant decrease in subjective arousal after sleep deprivation. In contrast to findings in depressed adults, the effects of sleep deprivation persisted after 1 night of recovery sleep, and diurnal variation of mood did not predict response to sleep deprivation. These findings are consistent with those reported in the adult literature, and suggest a common psychophysiology between adult and adolescent depression.

多达70%的抑郁成年人对睡眠剥夺有抗抑郁反应。为了研究睡眠剥夺对精神障碍青少年的抑郁严重程度和觉醒水平的影响，我们让17名患者睡眠剥夺36小时。在基线、睡眠剥夺期间以及恢复睡眠1夜后评估抑郁的严重程度和主观觉醒。我们发现，重度抑郁的青少年抑郁严重程度显著降低，而缓解期的抑郁患者和精神正常对照组在睡眠剥夺后情况恶化。缓解期的抑郁患者在睡眠剥夺后主观觉醒显著降低。与抑郁成年人的研究结果相反，在恢复睡眠1夜后睡眠剥夺的影响仍然存在，并且情绪的昼夜变化并不能预测对睡眠剥夺的反应。这些发现与成人文献中的报道一致，并表明成人和青少年抑郁症之间存在共同的心理生理学机制。