Repeated sleep deprivation once versus twice a week in combination with amitriptyline

Effects of Restricted Time in Bed on Antidepressant Treatment Response: A Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVE

Antidepressant response onset is delayed in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD). This study compared remission rates and time to remission onset for antidepressant medication delivered adjunctively to nightly time in bed (TIB) restriction of 6 hours or 8 hours for the initial 2 weeks.

METHODS

Sixty-eight adults with DSM-IV-diagnosed MDD (mean ± SD age = 25.4 ± 6.6 years, 34 women) were recruited from September 2009 to December 2012 in an academic medical center. Participants received 8 weeks of open-label fluoxetine 20-40 mg and were randomized to 1 of 3 TIB conditions for the first 2 weeks: 8-hour TIB (n = 19); 6-hour TIB with a 2-hour bedtime delay (late bedtime, n = 24); or 6-hour TIB with a 2-hour rise time advance (early rise time, n = 25). Clinicians blinded to TIB condition rated symptom severity weekly. Symptom severity, remission rates, and remission onset as rated by the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were the primary outcomes.

RESULTS

Mixed effects models indicated lower depression severity for the 8-hour TIB compared to the 6-hour TIB group overall (F₈, ₂₂₆.₉ = 2.1, P < .05), with 63.2% of 8-hour TIB compared to 32.6% of 6-hour TIB subjects remitting by week 8 (χ²₁ = 4.9, P < .05). Remission onset occurred earlier for the 8-hour TIB group (hazard ratio = 0.43; 95% CI, 0.20-0.91; P < .03), with no differences between 6-hour TIB conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

Two consecutive weeks of nightly 6-hour TIB does not accelerate or improve antidepressant response. Further research is needed to determine whether adequate sleep opportunity is important to antidepressant treatment response.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01545843.

Rapid-acting antidepressant strategies: mechanisms of action

Current antidepressants are ineffective in many depressed patients. Thus there is an urgent need to develop treatment strategies which have significantly faster response, can be sustained and have minimal side-effects. This paper reviews clinical data, potential biomarkers, mechanisms of action and future research directions for two proven strategies that produce marked improvement in severe depressive symptoms within 48 h, ketamine and sleep deprivation therapy (SDT). These treatments provide unequivocal evidence that the depressive process can be rapidly reversed in a subgroup of patients. Seventeen ketamine studies in over 150 patients showed a rapid response. Low-dose intravenous ketamine produced mild psychotomimetic effects but response has not been effectively sustained. SDT has been investigated in over 60 studies with a 40-60% response rate within 48 h. Although SDT is often used in Europe to initiate a rapid response, it is less utilized within the USA, in part, because it has a short duration when administered alone. We review data concerning chronotherapeutic strategies of bright-light therapy (BLT) and sleep-phase advance (SPA) which successfully sustain the antidepressant efficacy of SDT. Evidence is further discussed that a significant group of mood disorders have abnormal circadian rhythms which are known to be controlled by clock genes. It is hypothesized that chronotherapeutic manipulations can reset clock genes and thus, abnormalities in circadian rhythms. Further findings are reviewed that ketamine, in addition to its role as an NMDA antagonist, can also alter circadian rhythms. Thus, ketamine may share a critical mechanism with SDT.

Sleep deprivation in mood disorders

Growing clinical evidence in support of the efficacy and safety of sleep deprivation (SD), and its biological mechanisms of action suggest that this technique can now be included among the first-line antidepressant treatment strategies for mood disorders. SD targets the broadly defined depressive syndrome, and can be administered according to several different treatment schedules: total versus partial, single versus repeated, alone or combined with antidepressant drugs, mood stabilizers, or other chronotherapeutic techniques, such as light therapy and sleep phase advance. The present review focuses on clinical evidence about the place of SD in therapy, its indications, dosage and timing of the therapeutic wake, interactions with other treatments, precautions and contraindications, adverse reactions, mechanism of action, and comparative efficacy, with the aim of providing the clinical psychiatrist with an updated, concise guide to its application.

Mid-term effects of serial sleep deprivation therapy implemented in cognitive-behavioral treatment on the neuroendocrine response to clomipramine in patients with major depression

While data dealing with neurobiological effects of sleep deprivation (SD) are mainly restricted to the acute effects of a single night, only few studies have investigated mid-term effects after repeated SD. We therefore examined the clinical and hormonal characteristics of depressive patients before and after serial SD to determine potential sustained effects, focusing especially on serotoninergic functions. One tool to investigate serotoninergic dysfunction in depression is the use of serotoninergic agents to stimulate hormonal secretion, which is assumed to normalize during a clinically effective therapy. Eighteen drug-free inpatients with unipolar major depression received cognitive-behavioral treatment for three weeks and - according to a randomized control design - additional SD therapy (six nights of total SD within three weeks, separated by nights of recovery sleep) or no SD therapy (control group). Serotoninergic function was assessed by measuring cortisol and prolactin in response to intravenously administered clomipramine (12.5mg) before and after the treatment period. The post-treatment challenge test was performed three days after the last SD night. Apart from of a transient overnight improvement of mood induced by SD, both groups showed a comparable clinical course during the three-week treatment period. Compared to the control group, the SD-treated patients exhibited significantly decreased pre-stimulation cortisol levels and significantly increased cortisol responses to clomipramine, whereas no treatment effects were observed for prolactin. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the mid-term effects of serial SD therapy lead to a normalization of serotoninergic dysfunction, although an obvious impact on clinical symptoms was not detected.

Patterns of response to repeated total sleep deprivations in depression

BACKGROUND

Patterns of response and nonresponse in repeated sleep deprivation (SD) are of both clinical and scientific interest; as yet, studies have yielded inconsistent results.

METHODS

Eighteen inpatients suffering from a major depression were subjected to a series of six scheduled total sleep deprivations within 3 weeks; 12 of them completed the whole protocol. All were under a constant antidepressant medication with amitriptyline. SD effects were measured using observer and self rating scales.

RESULTS

Each single SD led to a significant improvement. Of the 12 patients who completed the protocol, seven were classified as responders at endpoint (i.e., 1 week after the sixth TSD). The majority of patients exhibited a pattern of responses and nonresponses randomly distributed over time. There was no temporal trend. The initial effect did not predict the average response to the following SDs.

LIMITATIONS

One third of patients dropped out before completing the protocol which limits the scope of the study.

CONCLUSIONS

Response to a single SD is not generalizable on a series of following SDs in an individual. The mechanism of action of SD does probably not involve mechanisms subjected to habituation or sensitization.