Drugs and dreams II: Imipramine and prochlorperazine

Dreaming in the Depressed

“…Gottschalk (47) has discussed this issue recently. We have noted an increase in outward directed hostility in dreams of subjects in acute studies using imipramine (73). We have previously suggested that all psychotropic medications may act via a suppressant effect (76) which would accentuate any possible lag between changes in the overt clinical state and the intrapsychic condition of the patient.…”

“…This comparison group was made up of five male and five female non-depressed college student volunteers who slept in the laboratory for dream collection one night a week for four weeks. They had been part of another study (73,74). The use of this group is to highlight comparisons between them and the depressed and they are not to be viewed as a control group in the usual sense.…”

Uses of Dreams

“…Studies by Whitman et al [4,5] re vealed that the dreams of depressed patients included depressive content, and the adminis tration of the tricyclic amine, imipramine, to these patients was associated with the lessen ing of the depressive content of their dreams. So the depressive manifest content of dreams can be used to gauge the presence of a depres sive disorder.…”

Alterations of Sleep Pattern in Psychiatric Disorder

“…Although no attempt was made in our study to determine previous drug intake, no statistically significant change was found either in the quantity of dreaming or the incidence of nightmares between the suicidal and non-suicidal patients. It is difficult to see how the suppressing effect of sedatives and tranquillizers on REM sleep would increase suicidal tendencies since all antidepressants and stimulants so far reported have also been shown to suppress or decrease REM sleep (1,2,6,7,23). On the other hand some of the tranquillizers which have a depressant effect on the central nervous system have been reported to increase the length of REM sleep or to shorten its onset (1,10,22).…”