NAPS AFTER TOTAL SLEEP-DEPRIVATION IN DEPRESSED-PATIENTS - ARE THEY DEPRESSIOGENIC

Total sleep deprivation (TSD) exerts beneficial but transient effects on mood in approximately 60% of patients with a major depressive disor der. The position effects of a night of total sleep deprivation are ge nerally reversed after the next night of sleep. Several anecdotal repo rts and a pilot study by our group indicated that even short naps duri ng the period of sleep deprivation are capable of re-inducing depressi ve mood in responders to TSD. The present study explored whether the s tructure af naps at 9 a.m. was crucial for the ''depressiogenic'' impa ct of naps on mood. A negative effect on mood was replicated, but this effect was not related to any of tile nap sleep variables. The effect of naps on mood was attenuated in the early afternoon. The results su pport the assumption of a ''depressiogenic'' effect of naps in patient s with major depression after successful TSD.