title: The effects of sleep deprivation on average evoked responses in depressed patients and in normals.
abstract: The effects of a single night of sleep deprivation on the amplitude and amplitude/stimulus intensity function of the visual evoked potential (EP) were studied in 16 patients with primary affective disorder and 20 normal controls. Visual EP amplitude and amplitude/intensity slopes tended to increase after sleep deprivation in the patient group, a direction found in other studies to be associated with a spontaneous mood improvement and changes with antidepressant medication. In contrast, normal volunteers who showed little or no mood elevation showed generally opposite EP effects. Taken together, the results suggest a similarity in the neurophysiological effect of sleep deprivation between patient and antidepressant medication in depressed patients.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012892:Sleep Deprivation; D014796:Visual Perception