Sleep and memory: mechanisms and implications for psychiatry

Abstract

Purpose of review: This review discusses current concepts on the relationship between sleep, memory formation and underlying neural refinements, with a particular focus on possible ways to use or modulate sleep in a targeted manner to augment psychiatric and psychotherapeutic treatments.

Recent findings: The most promising lines of research with regard to psychiatry and psychotherapy center on the targeted implementation or modulation of sleep to augment existing or create novel forms of treatment.

Summary: The modulation of sleep and interconnected neural plasticity processes provides a window of opportunity for developing novel treatments in psychiatry and psychotherapy.