This unique volume draws together current knowledge about the basic mechanisms responsible for sleep and other biological rhythms, and surveys the clinical applications that have recently evolved from research in these fields. The first part of the book details the organization of physiological and behavioral rhythms, their alteration in psychiatric conditions, the effects of sleep manipulation on affective disorders, and the effects of bright light exposure on melatonin secretion, sleep, and mood. The second part focuses on the physiology of sleep, and includes information on brainstem and diencephalic mechanisms of REM sleep control, putative sleep modulators and studies of the treatment of sleep disorders with cholinergic, monoaminergic, opiod and benzodiazepinic agents. As an authoritative, up-to-date resource, this work will interest psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and psychopharmacologists. It is an essential reference for sleep researchers and anyone involved in the study of circadian rhythms.

Jacques Montplaisir's profile page

Roger Godbout's profile page

Roger Godbout, both Professors of Psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal.

"Makes pleasurable and provocative reading for the psychiatric researcher and clinician with an interest in biological rhythms and sleep." --American Journal of Psychiatry

"Contains timely and provocative information essential to anyone involved with the clinical management of sleep-wake and behavioral disorders, especially depression. . . .This book is pleasant to read, which testifies to the quality of writing. It presents recent advances that enhance our knowledge of sleep and behavioral disorders. For this reason, I recommend the text to anyone interested in sleep or behavioral disorders, either from a clinical or research perspective." --Annals of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons

" . . . the chapters are well written and are remarkablr timelt in view of the speed at which the field is evolving. . . . this book offer[s] the reader a particularly up-to-date overview of the anatomical, neurochemical, and electrophysiological processes that underlie the regulation of sleep and biological rhythms. Those particularly interested in the etiology and treatment of affective disorders and those interested in the basic mechanisms underlying sleep should find this book most satisfying." --Contemporary Psychology