The relationship between changes in REM sleep and clinical improvement in depressed patients treated with amitriptyline.

EEG sleep recordings were obtained on consecutive nights from six hospitalized depressed patients before, during, and after treatment with amitriptyline for a total of 370 nights of data, about 85% of all nights of the study. Amitriptyline significantly reduced time spent in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and prolonged the REM latency throughout the treatment period. Three patients who improved during treatment showed a REM rebound when amitriptyline was discontinued, whereas three patients who did not improve showed no REM rebound.