Opinion Letters

摘要

Emma Young tells us (21 February, p 34) that "the assumption that poor sleep was a symptom rather than a cause of mental illness was so strong that nobody questioned it". The assumption may have been widespread, but it did not go entirely unquestioned.rnOn page 21 of their book Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy of Schizophrenia, published in 1994, David Kingdon and Douglas Turkington noted that a state of sleep deprivation is common prior to acute psychotic breakdown. Crucially, they went on to suggest that "sleep disturbance may be exacerbating, and perhaps may even have a causative role in producing, the psychotic symptoms".