THE SECRET OF CLOZAPINE - TO SLEEP WHILE AWAKE

A dramatic increase in REM sleep time at the expense of slow wave slee p has been reported in patients on clozapine monotherapy (5). It is no w suggested that this effect of clozapine on the sleep pattern could b e due to a dissociation of the NREM/REM sleep cycle, and that the epil eptogenic EEG abnormalities induced by clozapine in daytime recordings (2) would represent a dose-dependent activation on NREM sleep mechani sm during wakefulness. The implications of this theory in relation to the concept of schizophrenia are discussed.