Treatment: rapid improvement in information processing after sleep deprivation and sleep-phase advance in bipolar depression

Object: Sleep phase advance can prevent and substain the antidepressant effect of total sleep deprivation. Weevaluate the neuropsychological assessment during this cronotherapeutic procedureMethod: We tested self-description and recognition memory in 23 bipolar depressed inpatients treated with totalsleep deprivation followed by sleep phase-advance.Results: Treatment reverted and normalized the baseline biases toward negative stimuli.Conclusions: Changes in neuropsychological performance paralleled changes of mood, and could be explainedby treatment effects on anterior cingulate cortex metabolism