Sleep Disturbance in Acute Schizophrenic Patients

Sleep patterns were studied longitudinally in six acute schizophrenic patients throughout most of their hospital stays, ranging from 25 to 224 consecutive nights, and the data were compared with those from 15 normal control subjects. The sleep patterns of these six patients showed unique differences from those of the control subjects as well as from sleep patterns of severely depressed patients and normal subjects under experimental conditions. However, no definitive interpretation of these findings can yet be made; further extensive and systematic case studies are needed to determine whether the sleep disturbances reported here are an inherent aspect of all acute schizophrenic exacerbations.