Insomnia may precede and prolong major depression

Two new studies show that insomnia, far from being a symptom or side effect of depression, may instead precede it, making some patients more likely to become and remain mentally ill. One paper was presented today at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) in Denver, and the other will be published shortly in the Journal of Behavioral Sleep Medicine.

In recent years, researchers established that insomnia and depression are linked, but struggled to determine which came first. Many experts believed that depression caused insomnia until new drugs arrived that improved depression, but not insomnia. The idea that insomnia could be a contributor to, or predictor of, depression gained credence.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Jun 2005
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.