Circadian and Sleep Modulation of Dreaming in Women with Major Depression.
Clocks & Sleep February 28, 2022 Angelina Birchler-Pedross, Sylvia Frey, Christian Cajochen et al.
Women with major depressive disorder (MDD) recall dreams as often as healthy women, but their dreams carry twice the negative emotional load, especially during the circadian night. In a controlled laboratory protocol, nine healthy and eight unmedicated women with MDD underwent ten alternating cycles of 150 minutes awake and 75 minutes asleep over 40 hours. Dream recall frequency did not differ between groups, but dream emotional load was significantly higher in the MDD group during nighttime naps. Higher negative emotional load in dreams correlated with worse mood in both groups. The findings suggest that circadian and sleep regulation of dreaming remains intact in unmedicated young women with MDD.