[Nocturnal polygraphic studies during the treatment of depressed patients with sleep deprivation]

In 33 patients with endogenic and psychogenic depression treated by a course of total agrypnotic therapy, the time-course of the clinical and psychological parameters was compared with the findings provided by polygraphic examinations of night sleep. Sleep deprivation lessened depression by regulating the pattern of sleep in depressive patients which was expressed both in its deepening and the improvement of its total and cyclic organization. The efficacy of the agrypnotic therapy was more effective in cases when the quantitative parameters of sleep were disrupted less severely and when gross pathological changes of its general pattern predominated. The study confirms the homogeneity of the neurophysiological and biochemical cerebral processes responsible for the emotional state of the person and the integration of his or her sleep.