[Sleep in depression]

Abstract

Insomnia is a cardinal symptom of depression, side by side with alterations of mood and slowing down of psychomotor activities. It bears witness to a rupture in the built-in circadian rhythm: architectural changes in sleep betray a biological desynchronization. Insomnia is also a failed attempt at finding a solution to depression. Total deprivation of sleep for one night may damp down the depressive disorders, and so does partial sleep deprivation in the second part of the night during several days. This leads to the conclusion that the waking-sleep system participates in the expression of symptoms of depression or even contributes to the genesis of the disease.