Effects of disulfiram on the sleep of chronic alcoholics.

Thirty male alcoholic inpatients received in a random double-blind design placebo (P) or disulfiram 250 mg. (D) at bedtime in order to evaluate the effects of the latter on EEG-EOG sleep patterns. Subjects (S's) had no major medical illness and required no medication for 3 weeks prior to the study. There were 13 disulfiram S's and 17 placebo S's. The total REM time decreased significantly (p less than 0.05) in the D group. Total number of REM episodes decreased and latency to stage 1 REM increased in the disulfiram group. These results are characteristic of sleep patterns induced by the administration of catecholaminergics and opposite to those induced by catecholamine inhibiting agents.