The Psychological Effects of 205 Hours of Sleep Deprivation

A RECENT sleep deprivation bibliography compiled by Naitoh¹lists more than 175 entries since the original study by Patrick and Gilbert in 1896.²Review of this literature points up the following. 1. There are no carefully controlled studies of 200 or more hours of sleeplessness. With few exceptions, such as those of Katz³and Ross,⁴most of the reports involve studies of less than 120 hours of sleep deprivation, which is well within the endurance of most adults. Although the upper limits have not been established, it is likely that most adults have approached their endurance near 200 hours. 2. A controversy exists as to both the immediate and long lasting psychotogenic potential of prolonged sleep deprivation. Early reports noted perceptual changes, with some transient disruption of behavior and attention. Tyler⁵,⁶noted "symptoms like schizophrenia" in