Main description:

The following papers were presented at an International Workshop on experi mental methodologies and research strategies in sleep, benzodiazepines and per formance during the VII. International Congress of Psychiatry in Vienna 1983. Authors were asked to examine and review the methods used and the results obtained from the various studies within their particular expertise and to provide guidelines for future strategies in the psychopharmacology of sleep. It has long been felt by sleep researchers, psychopharmacologists and clini cians that the effects of drugs on sleep or even sleep itself cannot be evaluated without reference to the daytime behaviour of the individual. Sleep and daytime performance are complementary aspects of the same circadian cycle. The modifi cation of sleep parameters by hypnotic medication must necessarily have an impact upon daytime behaviour. The overall change in a patient's daytime behaviour following nocturnal administration of a benzodiazepine is of importance when considering the toler ability and safety of the drug in clinical use. Alterations to the integrity of daytime performance also have consequences for that patient's subsequent sleep and nocturnal behaviour. Thus this workshop was conceived as a platform for examining the inter relationship of sleep, benzodiazepine hypnotics and daytime performance from pharmacological, psychological, experimental and clinical standpoints. The fol lowing papers also highlight the complexity of the interaction between sleep, patient, drug and daytime performance and emphasize the need to approach problem areas with appropriate research strategies and experimental method ologies.

Contents:

Sleep and Insomnia.- Polysomnographic and MMPI Characteristics of Patients with Insomnia.- Issues in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Insomnia.- Are Poor Sleepers Changed into Good Sleepers by Hypnotic Drugs?.- Effects of Hypnotics in Insomniacs.- Psychological Performance Models as Indicators of the Effects of Hypnotic Drugs on Sleep.- Sleep Laboratory Study of Lormetazepam in Older Insomniacs.- Effects of Two Benzodiazepines on the Speed and Accuracy of Perceptual-Motor Performance in the Elderly.- Hypnotic Drugs for 1984.- Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Benzodiazepines.- Pharmacodynamics of Benzodiazepines After Single Oral Doses: Kinetic and Physiochemical Correlates.- Lormetazepam - Plasma Concentrations in Volunteers Following Sublingual and Oral Dosing.- Pharmacokinetic and Clinical Studies with a Benzodiazepine Radioreceptor Assay.- Modern Trends in the Investigation of New Hypnotics in Anaesthesia.- Are Electroencephalographic and Psychomotor Measures Sensitive in Detecting Residual Sequelae of Benzodiazepine Hypnotics?.- Differential Effects of Benzodiazepines.- Are the Amplitudes of Visual Evoked Potentials Sensitive Indices of Hangover Effects After Repeated Doses of Benzodiazepines?.- Amnesic Effects of Lormetazepam.- The Effects of Benzodiazepines on Short-Term Memory and Information Processing.- Simulated Car Driving as a Useful Technique for Determination of Residual Effects and Alcohol Interaction After Short- and Long-Acting Benzodiazepines.- Resume.- Sleep, Benzodiazepines and Performance: Issues and Comments.- Author Index.