[Reaction to sleep deprivation as a prognostic factor in the treatment of endogenous depression]

Studies conducted on a group of 38 patients with endogenous depression demonstrated that a reaction to sleep-deprivation presenting as improved well-being has a significant predictive potential for treatment with imipramine. Patients who displayed the reaction also significantly more frequently displayed improvement of clinical course (remission; good response). Risk of switching from depression to mania also increased among these patients. Patients responding to sleep-deprivation with improved well-being belonged mainly to the bipolar affective disorder. Neither clinical manifestations of depression, nor the number of relapses, nor the duration period of the disorder, nor basic demographic patterns did show distinct features; nor did they differ significantly from patients who did not respond to sleep-deprivation with improved well-being.