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 depressio n and subjective arousal were assessed at baseline, during sleep depri vation, and after 1 night's recovery sleep. We found that severely dep ressed adolescents showed a significant decrease in depression severit y, whereas depressed patients in remission and psychiatric controls wo rsened after sleep deprivation. Patients with depression in remission showed a significant decrease in subjective arousal after sleep depriv ation. In contrast to findings in depressed adults, the effects of sle ep 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 dep ression.