Sleep in major depression: relation to memory performance and outcome after interpersonal psychotherapy.
BACKGROUND
Earlier findings suggest both a link between sleep and memory consolidation and a relationship between abnormal sleep at baseline and poor treatment outcome in major depression after interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT).


METHODS
Pre-treatment polysomnography was examined in 32 patients with a major depressive episode (mean age = 39.5 years, 20 women). Declarative memory was tested by the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test and a paired associative word list and procedural learning was assessed by a mirror tracing skill. All patients were treated with IPT according to the manual and did not receive any antidepressant medication. Twenty-three patients took part in a minimum of 12 sessions of IPT. Remission was defined as 2 consecutive weeks with a score <8 on the Hamilton Rating Scale of Depression.


RESULTS
Declarative visual memory performance was associated with total sleep time and total amount of rapid eye movement sleep. In IPT remitters (n = 14), there was a trend towards a decrease in rapid eye movement density (first period) and a significant decrease in delta power in pre-treatment sleep in comparison to non-remitters (n = 9). Treatment outcome after IPT was also associated with declarative memory performance at baseline (as a trend).


CONCLUSIONS
Further indications of a role of sleep in memory processes and of the importance of specific sleep parameters as markers for a positive treatment response to psychotherapy were found.
Goder
Robert
R
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Centre of Integrative Psychiatry (ZIP), Christian Albrechts University School of Medicine, Kiel, Germany. r.goeder@zip-kiel.de
Fritzer
Gunther
G
Hinze-Selch
Dunja
D
Huchzermeier
Christian
C
Koch
Jakob M
JM
Seeck-Hirschner
Mareen
M
Aldenhoff
Josef B
JB
D000328:Adult; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000379:methods; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome