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



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.

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.

I upload every Wednesday at 9am, and sometimes have extra videos in between. Subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss a video https://goo.gl/DFfT33

View 31 Comments

31 Comments

  10. @dahliavkarma6124 on

    Thank you so much for telling me that too much sleep is actually bad for my symptom. The only thing I know I’m really trying is alleviating my depression ,and with this knowledge I finally have a reason in my life to get up.

  11. @scotthullinger4684 on

    Personal life long experience –
    Depressed people DO indeed need more sleep. It comes with the territory.
    With certain kinds of depression, the depression itself causes an insurmountable level of exhaustion which cannot be remedied regardless of any attempts.

  12. @FrugalTreeHugger on

    I'm going to try this tonight. Over the past few months, I've noticed that the days that I wake up at 4 am are great, but the days when I sleep till 7/8 am are trash. This never made sense since I thought I needed more sleep, but it may be related to this. I never had depression, but after child #2, the depression hit pretty hard.

  13. @nowchatshow4099 on

    Thank you Dr Tracey. I was diagnosed with BPD and been advised by GP for years to take anti depressants which I feel very uncomfortable doing, so I have not. I work out regularly, however I find when away from training (gym) I go back into a depressive mood swings more often when leading to my period, which only gives me 1 week feeling normal in 1 month, were I am feeling sad doing normal things. I will try the therapy lamp, hopefully this will aid these impulsive mood swings.

  15. @moyolenovo3914 on

    It's a pure torture. After not sleeping the first night sitting in a bus for around ten hours I started seeing objects and even people along the road that disappeared after a couple of seconds. When the sun had rised I felt exhausted and drained. My brain definitely wasn't functioning normally. Would not recommend this "practice" to anyone especially those struggling with mental issues moreover during a week.

  17. @gaurangatrades7847 on

    This was very eye-opening (pun intended) presentation, so thank you for sharing this info. Would wake therapy work if you're trying to be a very early riser? I would like to have a regular wake-up time between 4 and 5 am.

  19. @tashlentine on

    as someone who strongly suspects they have depression and as a result is REALLY struggling with sleep maintainence insomnia at the moment this sounds like actual torture to me. I was awake the entire night last week (absolutely not through choice) and fainted the next morning for the first time in my life and in the shower of all places. I can sort of understand the principle but it just doesn't feel like a safe way to treat it if the person has insomnia as one of their symptoms. I feel exhausted enough i don't see how depriving myself of even more sleep plus a bright light would cause me anything other than a migraine, extreme nausea, even more tiredness and a possible concussion in the shower. I appreciate the theory but it's a solid nope from me.

  21. @savingpeace8452 on

    I’ve been doing this it just started happening that I was waking super early and at first it was a nightmare because sleep is an escape and the thought of waking early to this long long day was overwhelming but very quickly I started sleeping earlier and now I’m skipping the night hours where I used to struggle the most so now I’m in bed by 5pm asleep by 7-9 and up at 5-6am it actually made my day shorter to get up early. This therapy sounds like torture but if your depression is worst in the afternoon and night getting up early can make you able to sleep through the worst of it

  23. @ramoncastillo3462 on

    Perfect! I'm off the next three days and took a mini nap during the day. Lets give this wake therapy a shot. I been on a Dr. Tracey Marks video marathon
    this entire week and I love it!

  24. @heathmckinnon4005 on

    Thanks doc Tracey I'm bipolar of 26 yrs suffering severe depression…the last 5 yrs has been better but I find I can sleep up to ten hours a nite and feel well rested . In my experience getting a bit extra sleep helps immensely. I work n exercise with my dog and am wakeful and mindful. I find sleep therapeutic. Regards heath.

  27. @matthewgilbertlmft3837 on

    This is another incredible video, Dr. Marks. As a provider, I suggest my amazing clients view some of your educational videos. I cannot express how much it means to them (and me) to have the occasional complex topic broken down into bite-size chunks. Thank you. I know this may be pie-in-the-sky, but do you ever offer Zoom consultations or group discussions?

  30. @Winniethepooh_Q on

    hi Dr, i have been oversleeping since a few days now and feeling very groggy and depressed. I have been preparing for a exam. I'm afraid i might be slipping back into depression. Is it recommended that i try this therapy? Also, regarding the bright light therapy, correct me if i'm wrong, u have to sit idle infront of any bright light source for 30 min. the light should be yellow or white? Also, does the light therapy has to have these lamps, or i can brighten up my entire room(I have got smart lights that can turn white, yellow and with a light pink tinge)

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