Rate of switch from depression into mania after therapeutic sleep deprivation in bipolar depression

Sleep deprivation is a potentially useful non-pharmacological treatment for depression. A relationship between sleep loss and the onset of mania has b een reported, so it is possible that a switch from depression into mania af ter sleep deprivation might be expected in bipolar depressed patients who a re treated with sleep deprivation. In a sample of 206 bipolar depressed tre ated with three cycles of sleep deprivation, alone or in combination with h eterogeneous medications, we observed a 4.85% switch rate into mania and a 5.83% switch rate into hypomania. These percentages are comparable to those observed with antidepressant drug treatments. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ir eland Ltd. All rights reserved.