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Sleep-Physiological Characteristics as Potential Biological Markers in Affective Disorders

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Neuropsychopharmacology

Abstract

In the area of sleep research, an impressive body of objective data on sleep-related “markers” associated with affective illness now exists. The most publicized alteration in sleep during depressive episodes is the shortening of the time from sleep onset to the beginning of the first rapid eye movement (REM) period, i.e., shortened REM latency (Kupfer and Foster 1972; Kupfer and Thase 1983). Progress has also been made in further defining and quantifying other features of sleep including non-rapid eye movement (NREM) activity and slow-wave sleep (Gillin and Borbély 1985; Reynolds and Kupfer 1987; Reynolds et al. 1987).

Supported in part by National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol abuse grant 00098, General Clinical Research Center grant RR-00833, National Institute of Mental Health grants 30915, 24652, 29618, and a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on the Psychobiology of Depression. This chapter is adapted from sections of two of our recent publications: Ehlers CL, Frank E, Kupfer DJ: Social zeitgebers and biological rhythms: A unified approach to understanding the etiology of depression. Archives of General Psychiatry 45:948–952, 1988 and Kupfer DJ, Ehlers CL: Two roads to rapid eye movement latency. Archives of General Psychiatry 46:945–948, 1989.

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Kupfer, D.J., Frank, E., Ehlers, C.L. (1990). Sleep-Physiological Characteristics as Potential Biological Markers in Affective Disorders. In: Bunney, W.E., Hippius, H., Laakmann, G., Schmauss, M. (eds) Neuropsychopharmacology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74034-3_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74034-3_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

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