Am J Psychiatry 1991; 148:1530-1535
Copyright © 1991 by American Psychiatric Association
REM latency and the recovery from depression: getting over divorce
RD Cartwright, HM Kravitz, CI Eastman and E Wood
Sleep Disorder Service and Research Center, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612.
OBJECTIVE: The authors' goal was to address five questions: 1) What is the
frequency of early REM sleep in subjects in the process of divorce who meet
diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder? 2) What is the frequency
of this sign in subjects in the process of divorce who are not depressed?
3) How often does this sign persist following remission of depressive
symptoms? 4) What is the predictive value of early REM sleep among
depressed subjects for later adjustment to the process of divorce? and 5)
What is the role of a family history of depression or alcoholism in the
presence and persistence of early REM sleep? METHOD: Two hundred fourteen
volunteers undergoing marital separation were recruited; 70 of these
subjects were selected for a 3- night sleep study. Forty of the 70 subjects
met criteria for depression and 30 did not; 61 (87%) returned for repeat
studies 1 year later. RESULTS: Fifteen (38%) of the 40 depressed subjects
had short REM latency. Seven of these continued to have short REM latency 1
year later, but none of these met the criteria for depression at that time.
A higher proportion of these subjects had made a good adjustment to their
new life than did depressed subjects whose initial and follow-up REM
latencies fell within the normal range. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest
that depressed individuals with normal REM latency may need more aggressive
treatment intervention.
