Do Depressed People Need More Sleep? How To Do Wake Therapy

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.

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.

[DrTraceyMarks]

For those looking for a good light. Here are two that I use. I still plan to do a video reviewing these for more details.
I like the Delonix better, but it's smaller. These are amazon affiliate links. Any proceeds I receive go to support producing these videos Thanks.

[lukewilliams]

Yeah because life is too overwhelming to bear so we sleep to escape. It’s really self explanatory 👏🏾

[Jennifer_]

Sleep is my escape from depression and anxiety. This “therapy” sounds like a nightmare to me. I would literally have to be hospitalized to try this. No way I could do it on my own.

[katrinviires]

Wow, sounds like torture, to be honest. I would have no energy to do anything at all...

[Muggins]

I’ve found that I’ve naturally started doing this when my symptoms are getting bad. It kind of makes sense to me because I study pre Christian civilisations and many of those in the colder parts of Europe (where seasonal depression is a common issue) have midwinter celebrations that involve bright fires and all night vigils.

[arikazuma]

Wow, perfect timing! Thank you! I've been sleeping too much lately and I'm getting more and more tired by the day.

[littlerock]

I like the alternative treatment presentation coming from a professional.

[tedbates]

I really need my sleep. If I have a good night's sleep, I wake up restored and renewed. In the evening I become fatigued and weary, and I have negative thoughts, but a good night's sleep can make all the difference in my thoughts.

[kernowarty]

That sounds crazy to me. I am depressed and I also suffer from insomnia. If I dont get much sleep for just one night I feel so tired the next day and two nights in a row and I feel ill the next day. That only adds to my depressions so Wake therapy seems like a nightmare to me.

[harshrana]

In a tube of gibberrish motivational videos, this channel is a real gem!

[mirellysantossantos]

Hi! Mirelly from Brazil typing here! I've just completed the first week cycle, it was hard, but I got it! Before the wake therapy I was going to bed at about 3.00a.m. - 4a.m. and waking up at 2.00p.m. Now, I am able to go to bed earlier and also wake up earlier. Thanks Dr. Marks for the explanation and for the guide! Tomorrow I will start the light therapy at 7am.

[katwin]

No way! Lack of sleep makes me feel terrible, I'm all sore and extremely depressed.

I definitely prefer sleep therapy :D

[madraglas]

Sometimes I skip a night’s sleep just to get a boost in my mood. Now I understand why this helps!

[kramer]

This absolutely worked for me. I decided to stay up all night while traveling and surely did not want to sleep when I realized my depression was lifted for that short while!

[lorrainecortes]

When I've had this and slept 10 hrs. And I was on a Trazodone antidepressant for 17yrs for sleep and anxiety, now I'm not on any medication and I'm sleeping 8hrs. And up at 8am. Great!

[jolanda_]

I unintentionally did kind of this.
As someone with adhd it was a hard time for me going through the numb depression state when nothing would interest me anymore. My hyperfixations would only be my racing thoughts, analyzing quite everything and discussing ethical issues in the internet. While being tired I also was restless and I really couldn't concentrate on anything. I was bored in a way that it hurt soo bad. I would search for things that kept me invested and made me give emotional response. I eventually discovered a story and for the first time in months I found myself reading. It was kind of a romance thriller haha. It was very long (about 3-4 books), but I was reading online so I don't know for sure. It wasn't even that good but there were enough mysteries that it would keep me invested. I was reading for four days straight with barely sleeping and eating. My racing thoughts stopped for the time I was reading so it felt like a big relief.
After all of this I felt kind of guilty going to my therapist and telling about how I fucked up my sleep schedule even more (I couldn't sleep much during depression), but when I told her about how I really felt better now she looked happy for me and told me about wake therapy. I think it was the combination of actually being able to hyperfixate on something other that myself for the first time in a while and being awake for so long. It helped me with my restlessness and obsessive- compulsive thoughts. Acknowledging my struggles, going to therapy and talking to my loved ones etc. were part of my recovery too but those four days were a big step at once and helped me a lot!
It was like a step out of the circle and being able to actually change something.

[marythatcher]

Wow i just found your videos.
I want to be mentally strong and stable.
Thank you for your videos
The more aware i can be and understand the easier it is for me

[halliewhitehead]

Perfect treatment during quarantine, a year later. Thank you so much doctor!

[restacks]

Today I couldn’t sleep, in the morning I felt like a different person, no depression at all. It was so strange that I linked it with sleep deprivation and found this video. I’d never think insomnia can do something good:)

[Voidforestbird]

Very interesting! I've noticed that when I've had bad periods, just staying up all night and create things have had that reset effect.

It's so cool to see your videos get better over time as you relax in front of the camera and put more personality into it. They are always informative, but this one had an extra nice flow I think.