Increased REM eye movement density in self-rated depression.

Zung depression scores were positively related to eye movement density in a sample of 19 noncomplaining young adult males. The subjects were not clinically depressed and had average scores on the Depression Scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. There was no relation of Zung depression to rapid eye movement (REM) latency, stage 3 and stage 4 sleep, or REM in the first third of the sleep period. The finding is consistent with the hypothesis of a disinhibition or phase lead of REM sleep phasic events in depression.