Are sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances the cause or simply the consequence of depression or other mood disorder sub-types?

Abstract

An area of great interest in Depression and Mood Disorder research has been highlighted by the Mental Health Priority Area of the Wellcome Trust (UK), namely sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances (SCRD). Wellcome has set out the background logic for this focus and clear research priorities (Wellcome Trust, 2022), leading to the funding of a series of international projects. This focus is a particularly good fit with the international agenda for development of more effective and scalable strategies for prevention, early intervention and secondary prevention of illness relapse, progression and downstream physical illnesses for adolescent-onset anxiety, depressive and psychotic disorders (Hickie et al., 2019).