SLEEP DISTURBANCES AND SUICIDAL-BEHAVIOR IN PATIENTS WITH MAJOR DEPRESSION

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the association b etween sleep disturbances and suicidal behavior in patients with major depression (N = 113). Method: The sleep symptomatology of each patien t was ascertained from the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizo phrenia (SADS) questions concerning sleep in the section on major depr ession. The patients were retrospectively classified as having hyperso mnia (N = 20), insomnia (N = 69), and no sleep disturbance (N = 24). T he SADS suicide subscale was used to rate the severity of active suici dality. Results: The patients with hypersomnia and insomnia had signif icantly (p < .05) higher scores on the SADS suicide subscale than thos e without sleep disturbance. We also found that the patients with inso mnia and hypersomnia were significantly (p < .001) more likely to beco me suicidal than the others. Conclusion: These data demonstrate that b oth insomnia and hypersomnia are associated with suicidal behavior in patients with major depression.