A. C. Lit: The practice of sleep-deprivation as a treatment of vital depressions
In an increasing number of papers sleep-deprivation is reported to be an effective treatment of endogenous (vital) depressions. Some hospitals however hesitate to introduce this method as till now little is known about the practice of sleep-deprivation, its complications, contra-indications, modifications and the possibilities to combine it with other therapies. For this reason the author describes a number of practical recommendations, based on the clinical experiences in 409 series of treatments (i.e. about 3200 sleep-deprivated nights) given from 1971 till 1978 in the Christian Sanatorium at Zeist, the Netherlands.
It is concluded that sleep-deprivation appears to be an effectieve, strictly specific and safe treatment of vital depressions, making E.C.T. in the Sanatorium practically obsolete.