Sleep in Major Depression: Relation to Memory Performance and Outcome after Interpersonal Psychotherapy

Background: Earlier findings suggest both a link between sleep and memory consolidation and a relationship between abnormal sleep at baseline and poor treatment outcome in major depression after interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT). Methods: Pre-treatment polysomnography was examined in 32 patients with a major depressive episode (mean age = 39.5 years, 20 women). Declarative memory was tested by the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test and a paired associative word list and procedural learning was assessed by a mirror tracing skill. All patients were treated with IPT according to the manual and did not receive any antidepressant medication. Twenty-three patients took part in a minimum of 12 sessions of IPT. Remission was defined as 2 consecutive weeks with a score