Cited by 563Sleep and related disordersTreatment of Major DepressionCircadian rhythm and melatonin

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 50 of the 50 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 14 of the 83 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Effects of Antidepressants on Sleep

Open access

Abstract

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The aim of this review article was to summarize recent publications on effects of antidepressants on sleep and to show that these effects not only depend on the kind of antidepressant drugs but are also related to the dose, the time of drug administration, and the duration of the treatment. RECENT FINDINGS: Complaints of disrupted sleep are very common in patients suffering from depression, and they are listed among diagnostic criteria for this disorder. Moreover, midnocturnal insomnia is the most frequent residual symptom of depression. Thus, all antidepressants should normalize sleep. However, at least in short-term treatment, many antidepressants with so-called activating effects (e.g. fluoxetine, venlafaxine) may disrupt sleep, while others with sedative properties (e.g., doxepin, mirtazapine, trazodone) rapidly improve sleep, but may cause problems in long-term treatment due to oversedation.For sleep-promoting action, the best effects can frequently be achieved with a very low dose, administered early enough before bedtime and importantly, always as a part of more complex interventions based on the cognitive-behavioral protocol to treat insomnia (CBT-I). For successful treatment of depression, it is necessary to understand the effects of antidepressants on sleep. Each physician should also be aware that some antidepressants may worsen or induce primary sleep disorders like restless legs syndrome, sleep bruxism, REM sleep behavior disorder, nightmares, and sleep apnea, which may result from an antidepressant-induced weight gain.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This narrative review summarizes how antidepressants affect sleep, emphasizing that effects depend on drug class, dose, timing of administration, and treatment duration. Activating antidepressants may disrupt sleep short-term, sedating antidepressants can promote sleep but risk oversedation, and low-dose sedative antidepressants plus CBT-I may help insomnia.

Key findings

  • Sleep disturbance is common in depression: insomnia complaints are present in 60–90% of patients with major depression; in bipolar depressive episodes, 60% have insomnia and 20–30% have hypersomnia. In STAR*D, midnocturnal insomnia remained the most common residual symptom, present in 79% of patients who responded but did not remit after up to 12 weeks of citalopram.
  • Antidepressant classes differ in acute sleep effects: SSRI, SNRI, NRI, MAOI, and activating TCA tend to increase REM latency, suppress REM sleep, and may impair sleep continuity; sedating antidepressants such as mirtazapine, trazodone, and sedating TCA decrease sleep latency, improve sleep efficiency, increase slow wave sleep, and usually have little or no effect on REM sleep.
  • From FDA study-register data, average treatment-emergent insomnia with SSRI was 17% vs 9% placebo, and somnolence was 16% vs 8% placebo; with SNRI, insomnia was 13% vs 7% and somnolence 10% vs 5%. With sedating antidepressants, treatment-emergent insomnia was below 2%, but somnolence was 54% for mirtazapine vs 18% placebo and 46% for trazodone vs 19% placebo.
  • For insomnia treatment, only doxepin is FDA-approved among antidepressants for sleep maintenance insomnia; suggested low doses are doxepin 3–6 mg or trazodone 25–50 mg, taken at least 2 hours before sleep and combined with CBT-I. Agomelatine improved sleep latency after 2 and 24 weeks compared with escitalopram, and vortioxetine at 20 and 40 mg suppressed REM sleep similarly to paroxetine 20 mg in healthy male volunteers.

Methods

  • Narrative review summarizing recent literature on antidepressant effects on sleep, intended as an addition to prior reviews and including the authors’ personal view on antidepressant use for insomnia.
  • Evidence synthesized includes polysomnographic studies, FDA study-register data, clinical trials, meta-analyses, and treatment guidelines; the article states it contains no studies with human or animal subjects performed by the authors.
  • Main analysis is qualitative, organized by drug class and sleep parameters such as sleep continuity, slow wave sleep, REM latency, and REM sleep, with summary tables.

Limitations

  • The paper does not state a formal limitations section; it reports that no human or animal studies were performed by the authors and discloses that Adam Wichniak received speaker honoraria and congress travel grants from Angelini, Janssen-Cilag, Lundbeck, Sanofi, and Servier.
  • Evident from the text: this is a narrative review without a described systematic search strategy, risk-of-bias assessment, or meta-analytic pooling.
  • Evident from the text: several recommendations and observations rely on the authors’ clinical experience, published case reports, or personal opinion rather than randomized trial evidence, such as the low risk of phase shift with low-dose sedative antidepressants and morning low-dose citalopram for insomnia.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1007/s11920-017-0816-4

Cites

50 of 50 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Figures

Fig. 1 Graph (hypnogram) representing changes of sleep stages in the course of night in a depressed patient. Sleep in depression is characterized by disturbances of sleep continuity (prolonged sleep latency, increased number and duration of awakenings from sleep, early morning awakening), reduction of deep (slow wave sleep), and disinhibition of REM sleep, with shortening of REM latency and prolongation of the first REM period. Y-axis represents sleep stages: W- wake, R- REM sleep, N1 – stage 1 NREM sleep, N2 – stage 2 NREM sleep, N3 -stage 3 NREM sleep (slow wave sleep, deep sleep), and X-axis represents time and pages of sleep recording
Fig. 1 Graph (hypnogram) representing changes of sleep stages in the course of night in a depressed patient. Sleep in depression is characterized by disturbances of sleep continuity (prolonged sleep latency, increased number and duration of awakenings from sleep, early morning awakening), reduction of deep (slow wave sleep), and disinhibition of REM sleep, with shortening of REM latency and prolongation of the first REM period. Y-axis represents sleep stages: W- wake, R- REM sleep, N1 – stage 1 NREM sleep, N2 – stage 2 NREM sleep, N3 -stage 3 NREM sleep (slow wave sleep, deep sleep), and X-axis represents time and pages of sleep recordingCC BY · PubMed Central

Verification

Claims the paper makes

29 Sources not found · 28 No full text of the sources · 12 Own interpretation · 6 Supported · 6 Partly supported · 2 Couldn’t confirm · accuracy not yet measured

Show all 61 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 19
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 5
22 of 22
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The sedating effect of sedative antidepressants becomes an increasing problem in long-term maintenance treatment, frequently requiring dose reduction.

    “The sedating effect of those antidepressants is usually an increasing problem in long-term maintenance treatment, frequently resulting in a need to reduce the drug dose.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Combination treatment with benzodiazepines and SSRI/SNRI is often necessary to reduce anxiety and insomnia as early as the first week of treatment.

    “Such an approach, combination treatment with benzodiazepines and SSRI/SNRI is often necessary to reduce anxiety and insomnia as early as in the first week of treatment.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Some antidepressants may worsen or induce primary sleep disorders like restless legs syndrome, sleep bruxism, REM sleep behavior disorder, nightmares, and sleep apnea.

    “some antidepressants may worsen or induce primary sleep disorders like restless legs syndrome, sleep bruxism, REM sleep behavior disorder, nightmares, and sleep apnea”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Antidepressant-induced weight gain may cause sleep apnea.

    “which may result from an antidepressant-induced weight gain.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    In daily clinical practice, the use of pharmacotherapy for insomnia is very common.

    “However, in daily clinical practice, the use of pharmacotherapy for insomnia is very common.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The most frequently used drugs to treat insomnia aside from benzodiazepines and non-benzodiazepine hypnotics are sedative antidepressants.

    “The most frequently used drugs to treat insomnia aside from benzodiazepines and non-benzodiazepine (eszopiclone/ zopiclone, zaleplon, zolpidem) hypnotics are sedative antidepressants.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Patients with comorbid mood or anxiety disorder are at increased risk of developing hypnotic dependency.

    “The use of sedative antidepressants should be also considered when there is a comorbid mood or anxiety disorder because such patients are at increased risk of developing hypnotic dependency.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    When a patient restricts time in bed and uses stimulus control technique, even low-dosage pharmacological treatment starts to work.

    “When a patient restricts time in bed and uses stimulus control technique, even lowdosage pharmacological treatment starts to work.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Insomnia shares many features with depression.

    “Although insomnia is not regarded as a severe mental disorder, it shares many features with depression.”
9 of 9

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

1 of 1

Citations

Cites

Show all 47 references

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Jernajczyk W, Sobańska A, Wierzbicka A, Wichniak A, Szatkowska E. The therapy of primary insomnia with citalopram. J Sleep Res. 2006;15(Suppl. 1):154.

Cited by

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Items 501–563 of 563

Metadata

Authors
Wichniak, A., Wierzbicka, A., Walęcka, M., & Jernajczyk, W.
Affiliations
Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology (PL)
Corresponding author
Wichniak, Adam
Venue
Current Psychiatry Reports
Published
2017-08-09
Volume
19
Issue
9
Pages
63-63
ISSN
  • 1523-3812 (ISSN-L)
  • 1535-1645
OpenAlex
W2742814779
Cited by
557
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 71 · 2025: 87 · 2024: 62 · 2023: 66 · 2022: 72 · 2021: 74 · 2020: 47 · 2019: 50 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 4
FWCI
4.24
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Current Psychiatry Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology (medical) › Treatment of Major Depression
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
Keywords
antidepressants, sleep, insomnia, depression, fluoxetine, venlafaxine, doxepin, mirtazapine, trazodone, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, oversedation, restless legs syndrome, sleep bruxism, REM sleep behavior disorder, nightmares, sleep apnea, antidepressant-induced weight gain
MeSH terms
Antidepressive Agents, Depressive Disorder, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Drug Administration Schedule, Humans, Sleep, Sleep Wake Disorders, Time Factors

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