Do depressed people need to sleep more? It would seem so, but when a depressed person stays awake, their depression resolves. The problem is it’s very temporary until the person goes back to sleep. Researchers have found that you can prolong the effect of the improvement if you combine sleep deprivation with light therapy.

In this video I show you how to do wake therapy for depression. This therapy has been used for both unipolar and bipolar depression. Although with bipolar depression the studies used lithium therapy along with the sleep deprivation and light therapy. But if at anytime during the therapy you start showing signs of mania like racing thoughts, impulsivity, irritability, you should stop the therapy and call your doctor. The early manic signs may resolve right after stopping the therapy, or you may need an adjustment to your mood stabilizer to get the mania to settle down.

I have guide that you can download that gives step by step instructions. You can download it here: http://markspsychiatry.com/wake-therapy/

References
Khalifeh AH. The effect of chronotherapy on depressive symptoms. Evidence-based practice. Saudi Med J. 2017;38(5):457-464.

Boland EM. Et al. Meta-AnalysiIts of the Antidepressant Effects of Acute Sleep Deprivation. J Clin Psychiatry 2017;78(8):e1020–e1034

Wirz-Justice, A., Benedetti, F., Berger, M., Lam, R., Martiny, K., Terman, M., & Wu, J. (2005). Chronotherapeutics (light and wake therapy) in affective disorders. Psychological Medicine, 35(7), 939-944.

Horne JA. and O. Ostberg. A self-assessment questionnaire to determine morningness-eveningness in human circadian rhythms. Int J Chronobiol. 1976;4(2):97-110.

Martiny K, Refsgaard E, Lund V, et al. The day-to-day acute effect of wake therapy in patients with major depression using the HAM-D6 as primary outcome measure: results from a randomised controlled trial. PLoS One. 2013;8(6):e67264. Published 2013 Jun 28.

Benedetti F, Riccaboni R, Locatelli C, Poletti S, Dallaspezia S, Colombo C. Rapid treatment response of suicidal symptoms to lithium, sleep deprivation, and light therapy (chronotherapeutics) in drug-resistant bipolar depression. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2014;75:133-40.

Disclaimer: All of the information on this channel is for educational purposes and not intended to be specific/personal medical advice from me to you. Watching the videos or getting answers to comments/question, does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. If you have your own doctor, perhaps these videos can help prepare you for your discussion with your doctor.

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