Sleep Disturbance in Depressed Patients: Objective and Subjective Measures

The British Journal of PsychiatryPublished 1 September 1964

Janine Samuel

DOI10.1192/bjp.110.468.711

Source URL

Citations21

SJR quartileQ1

SJR score2.47

SNIP2.17

TL;DR

No one method used alone provides a satisfactory estimate of the hypnotic properties of drugs, so most of the objective data have been combined with subjective records, such as patients' descriptions of sleep and nurses' observations of length of sleep.

Abstract

Complaints about lack of sleep are frequently made by patients diagnosed as depressed, and various recent studies have examined this symptom by attempting to measure sleep either objectively or subjectively. In the former approach bed movements have been recorded by Cox and Marley (1959), Hinton and Marley (1959), and Hinton (1961, 1962), while Oswald et al . (1963) have based their work on EEG changes during sleep. Since lack of sleep is essentially a personal experience, most of the objective data have been combined with subjective records, such as patients' descriptions of sleep, patients' and nurses' ratings of sleep, patients' estimates of length of sleep and nurses' observations of length of sleep. Isaacs (1957) comments that no one method used alone provides a satisfactory estimate of the hypnotic properties of drugs.

Keywords

PsychologyMedicineNeuroscience

Electroencephalography and Clinical NeurophysiologyThe effect of drugs on arousal responses produced by electrical stimulation of the reticular formation of the brain

231 Citations1958Philip Bradley, Brian Key

Thresholds for behavioural and EEG arousal produced both by electrical stimulation of the reticular formation and by afferent (auditory) stimulation have been determined in encephale isole cat preparations and three different sites of action are postulated.

The British Journal of PsychiatryMelancholia and Barbiturates: A Controlled Eeg, Body and Eye Movement Study of Sleep

151 Citations1963Ian Oswald, Ralph J. Berger +4 more

The patients used in the present study were suffering from an illness of a kind which the authors believe may sometimes develop in the absence of severe environmental stress, while in others it may be clearly provoked by circumstances, but the illness, as it develops, may take on a form which becomes largely independent of the environmental circumstances and may continue even when the provoking factors are past.

British Journal of Pharmacology and ChemotherapyTHE ACTIONS OF AMYLOBARBITONE SODIUM, BUTOBARBITONE AND QUINALBARBITONE SODIUM UPON INSOMNIA AND NOCTURNAL RESTLESSNESS COMPARED IN PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS

23 Citations1961John Hinton

With effective doses there was no significant difference between these barbiturates in onset and duration of hypnotic action, although usually accepted as either short or intermediate acting.

View PDF

Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & PsychiatryTHE EFFECTS OF MEPROBAMATE AND PENTOBARBITONE SODIUM ON SLEEP AND MOTILITY DURING SLEEP: A CONTROLLED TRIAL WITH PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS

18 Citations1959John Hinton, E. Marley

It was decided to test its effect, compared with that of a placebo and pentobarbitone sodium, on motility measured on a bed providing quantified estimates of movement during sleep or recumbency.

View PDF

Journal of Mental ScienceAdjunctive Therapy in Depression: A Controlled Trial of Nialamide

10 Citations1961J. W. Affleck, A. D. Forrest +1 more

A controlled trial of nialamide compared with chlorpromazine is reported in 50 hospitalized depressive patients, and results are discussed in relation to spontaneous recovery and the therapeutic effect of hospitalization.