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Insomnia Insomnia

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130 Karaz<br />

poor. Focusing only on the contents of the patient’s complaints may result in overlooking<br />

depression and in turn a poor treatment outcome. Severe insomnia is an<br />

independent risk factor for suicide during the first 2 years of an episode of major<br />

depression (8).<br />

Treatment of Depression/<strong>Insomnia</strong> Symptoms<br />

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like fluoxetine, paroxetine,<br />

sertraline, and fluvoxamine are commonly used for treatment of depression. SSRI<br />

antidepressants decrease total sleep time (TST), increase number of arousals, suppress<br />

REM sleep, and increase the number of phasic REMs. Despite their arousing<br />

effect on the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG), SSRI antidepressants improve<br />

subjective sleep quality in subjects with major depression and primary insomnia<br />

(9). On the other hand, insomnia is the most common residual symptom among<br />

patients who have otherwise been successfully treated with fluoxetine for depression.<br />

This phenomenon may be unique to the newer antidepressant medications like<br />

fluoxetine (8).<br />

Tricyclic antidepressants play a role in treatment of depression/anxiety symptoms.<br />

Tricyclic antidepressants decrease REM sleep and increase REM latency.<br />

EEG measures of sleep continuity may improve with tricyclic antidepressants (8).<br />

The tertiary amine tricyclic antidepressants (e.g., Amitriptyline and Imipramine)<br />

have a more sedating effect than the secondary amine tricyclics like Desipramine<br />

and Nortriptyline. The secondary amines group has fewer adverse effects. Some<br />

clinicians believe that depressed patients with marked insomnia and anxiety obtain<br />

some immediate relief from the sedating antidepressants before the full antidepressant<br />

effect takes place, which might increase the likelihood of compliance during<br />

the acute phase of treatment (10).<br />

One drawback of the tricyclic antidepressants is the risk of fatal effects if an<br />

overdose is ingested. Patients were randomly assigned to an initial prescription of<br />

the SSRI fluoxetine or the tricyclic Imipramine. The rate of improvement in insomnia<br />

was identical in both groups (11). Serotonin receptor modulators like Trazodone<br />

and Nefazodone increase sleep continuity. However, Trazodone decreases REM<br />

sleep and may cause daytime sedation, whereas Nefazodone increases REM and<br />

has minimal daytime sedation (12).<br />

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), antidepressants like Tranylcypromine<br />

(Parnate) and Phenelzine (Nardil), still have a role in the treatment of depression.<br />

However, because of the necessity to regulate the diet and to continuously evaluate<br />

the concomitant medications, MAOIs are not used as a first line of treatment (10).<br />

Benzodiazepines like Lorazepam, Clonazepam, and Alprazolam are sedating,<br />

induce sleep, and have anti-anxiety and muscle relaxant effects. Newer medications<br />

like Zolpidem act selectively on the ω1 benzodiazepine receptors and have a<br />

sedative effect without anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, and muscle relaxant effects. They<br />

do not cause rebound effects or withdrawal when discontinued (12). A doubleblind<br />

study by Smith and co-workers found that patients taking fluoxetine for

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