Mental illness sleep

Snodgrass J, Corwin J Pragmatics of recognition memory application to dementia and amnesia. J Exp Psychol Gen 117 34-50, 1988 Snyder F The dynamic aspects of sleep disturbances in relation to mental illness. Biol Psychiatry 1 119-130, 1969... 

During the first half of the twentieth century, subjective experience— both natural and drug-induced—was declared off limits to psychology. The 1953 discovery of REM sleep opened the door to a reconsideration of dreaming and other naturally altered states of consciousness that occurred in mental illness. This discovery coincided with a rise in amateur experimentation with drugs that altered waking consciousness. 

What this means is that the threshold to external stimuli is raised and lowered at will within waking (in hypnosis) and involuntarily within sleep (in dreaming). Whether the threshold adjustment is voluntary or involuntary, there tends to be a reciprocal enhancement of internal sensory stimuli that reaches hallucinatory strength easily (in dreaming) and with more difficulty (in trance). This particular feature of hypnosis strengthens the claim that hallucination, the most severe and stigmatic symptom of mental illness, can be triggered in two entirely natural states. Hallucination... 

The three most common types of depression are major depression, dysthymia, and bipolar disorder. Major depression, which may occur once but usually occurs several times in a person s life, will interfere with the ability to work, eat, sleep, study, and take pleasure in formerly enjoyed activities. Dysthymia is less severe than major depression but will interfere with feeling good and functioning well. Bipolar disorder (formerly called manic-depression) can be more serious than the other forms of depression. In this illness the person s mood swings from symptoms of depression to extreme excitement with over-activity and feelings of elation. This type of depression can progress to serious mental illness if not treated. 

Benzodiazepines also should not be taken by people who have a history of alcohol or drug abuse, stroke or other brain disorder, chronic lung disease, hyperactivity, depression or other mental illness, myasthenia gravis, sleep apnea, epilepsy, porphyria, kidney disease, or liver disease. 

Since antiquity, people of virtually every culture have used chemical substances to induce sleep, relieve stress, alleviate anxiety, and manage the crippling symptoms of severe mental illness. Although clinical descriptions of psychotic patients—especially schizophrenics— date back to at least 1400 B.C., prior to 1950, effective drugs for the treatment of psychotic patients were virtually nonexistent. 

Melatonin has side effects, but much less so than pharmaceutical sleeping pills. Long-term safety is not known. Prolonged use may have an influence on sex organs and reduce libido. It may slightly lower blood pressure. People with the symptoms of severe mental illness, severe allergies, autoimmune diseases, or immune system cancers such as leukemia should not... 

This means that, formally speaking, dreaming and severe mental illness are not only analogous but identical. This, in turn, means not only that is it easy to imagine that physical changes in brain state can produce psychosis, but also that the perfectly normal changes of sleep have very dramatic effects on our mental capacities. What s going on here ... 

Major depression, bipolar syndromes and schizophrenia are common and often severe mental illnesses. All three of these tend to have an onset in late adolescence or young adulthood. Major depression is characterized by persistent low mood and decreased interest and pleasure, as well as physical and psychological symptoms, including sleep disturbance. 

Serotonin has been found to influence sleeping, the regulation of body temperature, and sensory perception, but its exact role in mental illness is not yet clear. Unusually low levels of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, a product of serotonin utilization, are characteristically found in the spinal fluid of victims of violent suicide. Drugs that mimic serotonin are sometimes used to treat depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Serotonin blockers are used to treat migraine headaches and relieve the nausea that accompanies cancer chemotherapy. A better understanding of the biochemistry of the brain may lead to better medications for treating various forms of mental illness. 

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