Sleep Disturbance in Depressed Patients: Objective and Subjective Measures

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Abstract
The sleep of 18 depressed female patients was observed for 12 nights, on 6 of which 50 mg of thioridazine was given before retiring, while on the other 6 a placebo was administered. Neither nurses nor patients knew when the drug was used. Bed movements were counted instrumentally as "beats" and patients and nurses rated the quality of sleep on a 4-point scale. Over the whole trial, patients'' own ratings of their sleep discriminated significantly (p< -05) between nights when they received a tranquilizer and nights when a placebo was given. By contrast, nurses'' ratings did not make a significant discrimination (p > 0.10). The effect of a clinical dose of thioridazine on motility was insignificant by comparison with the variability among individual patients, the variability among beds and instruments and interactions between these and the drug. Nurses'' ratings of sleep showed a definite positive correlation ([eta] = +0.51) with those of the patients. They did show a closer relation to motility ([eta] = + 0.36) than did the patients'' ratings ([eta] = + 0.31). Patients'' accounts of their sleep, while sometimes at variance with the nurses'' reports, appear to have a definite basis not indicated by instruments or observers.