The effects of sleep deprivation on symptoms of psychopathology in healthy adults.
BACKGROUND
Sleep loss leads to temporary changes in mood and cognition, and is associated with reduced cerebral metabolism within the prefrontal cortex, similar to findings observed in some psychiatric disorders. However, the extent to which sleep deprivation may be associated with the emergence of clinical symptoms of psychopathology in healthy normal individuals is not clear.


METHODS
The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) was administered to 25 healthy adults at rested baseline and again after 56h of continuous wakefulness.


RESULTS
Comparisons showed a significant global increase in PAI psychopathology scores from baseline to sleep-deprived sessions, particularly for somatic complaints, anxiety, depression, and paranoia. Mean elevations for the clinical scales remained within normal limits, however. In contrast, sleep loss was not associated with significant changes in anxiety-related disorders, manic symptoms, borderline, schizophrenic, or antisocial features.


CONCLUSIONS
Two nights without sleep may lead to a sub-clinical increase in self-reported affective symptoms of psychopathology while having little effect on symptoms of thought disorder, psychotic processes, or behavioral dysregulation. These data suggest that sleep loss may be differentially disruptive to regions of the brain involved in affective regulation and may, therefore, serve as a model for understanding the brain dysfunction associated with affective psychopathology.
Kahn-Greene
Ellen T
ET
Department of Behavioral Biology, Division of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA.
Killgore
Desiree B
DB
Kamimori
Gary H
GH
Balkin
Thomas J
TJ
Killgore
William D S
WD
D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010259:Paranoid Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011599:Psychopathology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000523:psychology*; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology