According to a review of 61 studies of patients suffering from severel

Question

According to a review of 61 studies of patients suffering from severely debilitating depression, a large majority of the patients reported that missing a night's sleep immediately lifted their depression. Yet sleep deprivation is not used to treat depression even though the conventional treatments, which use drugs and electric shocks, often have serious side effects.

Which of the following, if true, best explains the fact that sleep deprivation is not used as a treatment for depression?

(A) For a small percentage of depressed patients, missing a night's sleep induces a temporary sense of euphoria.

(B) Keeping depressed patients awake is more difficult than keeping awake people who are not depressed.

(C) Prolonged loss of sleep can lead to temporary impairment of judgement comparable to that induced by consuming several ounces of alcohol.

(D) The dramatic shifts in mood connected with sleep and wakefulness have not been traced to particular changes in brain chemistry.

(E) Depression returns in full force as soon as the patient sleeps for even a few minutes.

DmitryFarber · Accepted Answer

This is a discrepancy/paradox question. We're presented with a puzzling situation to explain. If a simple treatment (going without sleep) works well, why isn't that used as treatment in place of the conventional treatments, which often have side effects?

To solve this, we need an answer that does one of the following:
*Provides an important drawback of sleep deprivation (maybe it, too, can have serious side effects)
*Provides an advantage for conventional treatments (maybe they have some additional benefit that sleep deprivation doesn't)
*Provides some other reason that conventional treatments are used (maybe they are more profitable for those prescribing them than simple lack of sleep, or maybe mental health professionals simply don't know that sleep deprivation works)

E works by providing a major drawback for sleep deprivation. The effects don't last! We aren't told how long the effects of conventional treatments last, but presumably they don't go away immediately, and that's why they are used in place of sleep deprivation.

Here's a look at the other choices:
A) This provides a mild advantage of sleep deprivation. We need a disadvantage!
B) This compares the treatment to keeping  non -depressed patients awake. We don't know how hard that is, or how hard the conventional treatments are. We need to compare the different kinds of treatment for depression.
C) This seems to go in the right direction by providing a disadvantage of sleep deprivation. But we don't know if missing a night's sleep is considered prolonged loss of sleep, nor do we know whether the described impairment would count as a serious enough side effect to make this treatment worse than the conventional ones.
D) This is simply irrelevant. We want to know why this method isn't used, not whether we understand the brain chemistry.

perfectstranger · Answer

1,2 and 4 are out of our scope . The question asks us while sleep-deprivation is cure for debilitating depresion , why the doctors use other methods such as drug,electric shocks.

I agree that C also can support the argument that it is not cure. But be careful there is "can" there . It is a possibility, it may happen or not happen.

While in E it is clearly stated that if the depressed person sleep , when he wakes then the depression returns so the sleep deprivation is solely a permanent solution. In the long run there will be no result obtained from this treatment.

icandy · Answer

While I agree that E is the correct answer, How in the world will/can Sleep deprivation help depression?

I had to make sure twice/thrice the meaning of the word "lifted"

Lifted (removed/increased) I know its the former because the Q asks for reasons on why it is not being used.

Where is this Q from?

TommyWallach · Answer

Hey Icandy,

While everyone is on top of the right answer here, I thought I'd respond to Icandy's complaint with a general note. Remember, it's not your place to get too involved with the "realities" of the premises. If the passage lists something as a fact, then you must accept it as a fact.

Also, for what it's worth, most of the passages are taken from actual science, so unless this is a terribly faked passage, there is probably some science to back up the claim.

Hope that helps!

-t

seekmba · Answer

I am confused with this question and will appreciate if someone can help me.

"loss of sleep lifted their depression" means "loss of sleep increased their depression" or "reduced their depression"?

lift means to raise or increase. Then how do we decide that in context of this question the meaning of lift was to "remove depression"

Coming to the question, the author says that "Loss of sleep cannot be used for treatment of depression" and we have to find a reason to support that.

How did we conclude on (E) as the answer. Can some one please explain this.

TommyWallach · Answer

Hey Seekmba,

Actually, lifted does not mean raised in this context. It means more like "lifted away". If I say that my depression has lifted, it means that it has gone away. To be more specific, here are two definitions taken from my trusty dictionary:

move upward; be raised : Thomas's eyelids drowsily lifted | their voices lifted in wails and cries.
•   (of a cloud, fog, etc.) move upward or away : the factory smoke hung low, never lifted | the gray weather lifted on the following Wednesday.

The question here refers to that second definition.

Hope that helps!

-t

parker · Answer

Good replies above on why E is the correct answer. I was just talking to a student about ruthless quick-elimination based on scope (a really valuable skill) and thought it might be useful here too. As you get really good at recognizing what is or is not relevant to the conclusion, you can often avoid thinking too much about the answers at all-- as *soon* as you recognize it's out of scope (which can take 3 seconds sometimes!) you can cross off that choice and move on. If something looks like it will take a little more time to evaluate, feel free to *defer* rather than spending a lot of time to evaluate it in sequence. You may get rid of all the others quickly, which will leave you with the correct answer in the least amount of time. Or you may come across something clearly better down the road (again, the most efficient use of time).

We're being asked to explain  why sleep deprivation, while successful at lifting depression after a night, isn't used to treat depression.

(A)  "For a small percentage of patients" -- you can almost stop reading here. Who cares about a small percentage, unless there is some really horrible side effect? A quick skim of the rest of the choice reveals that this group experiences something GOOD, not bad. Nix.

(B)  Keeping depressed patients awake  is more difficult than keeping awake people who are  not depressed.  Again, who cares? We only care about treatment of depression-- we're not comparing depressed people to un-depressed people.

(C ) Prolonged loss of sleep can lead to temporary  impairment of judgment  comparable to that induced by consuming several ounces of alcohol. 
(Hmmm...This one actually does show a negative effect of sleep deprivation. I might  DEFER  here.)

(D) The dramatic shifts in mood connected with sleep and wakefulness have not been  traced to particular changes in brain chemistry.  Who cares about *why* it works (unless, again, there's some negative?) We know THAT it works, and want to know why we don't use it more.

(E) Depression returns  in full force  as soon as the patient sleeps for  even a few minutes.

Whoa, in full force? And in even a few minutes? Well, we clearly have to sleep at some point, so this is a BIG drawback, and much more directly so than C. So we don't have to waste time thinking intensely about C (which is less relevant to the issue we're trying to resolve), and can go with E in the least possible amount of time.

Avinash99 · Answer

can anyone help
I have a little query .I picked C.My line of reasoning was as the option says that the loss of sleep caused impairment of judgement and the people reported that missing a night's sleep immediately lifted their depression,cant it be a case where because of this impairment in judgement they felt relieved of their depression while actually they were not.As soon as they gained proper judgement they they felt depressed.So this is supposed to mean loss of sleep actually does not lift depression and gives the strongest cause for it not to be used as a treatment.

egmat · Answer

So, you mean that a person can be depressed even though he does not think so.

Isn't depression a state of mind? Aren't you depressed only when you think you are depressed?

-Chiranjeev

Avinash99 · Answer

So, you mean that a person can be depressed even though he does not think so.

Isn't depression a state of mind? Aren't you depressed only when you think you are depressed?

-Chiranjeev

Hi 
Thanks for replying
Yes depression is a state of mind .But it is caused by the circumstances we are in .An impairment of ones judgement can cause a person to judge those circumstances differently and be relieved of that depression.But that relief is temporary and false.

for example if i cant judge my GMAT score to be good or bad .I will be happy if I get a 100 (100 was almost the best I could get in my board exams) .I wont be depressed with my score .But when I am able to judge then only I can understand its a bad score and be depressed about it.The temporary problem in judgement does no good to my depression only hides it for a moment which will come back as soon i find my reasoning

Just one more example :A hears that his shop is burned and is depressed.Go tell him it wasnt ur shop but ur neighbors n he is relieved.It dat a solution to his problem of depression I would say NO

You can say its a far fetched conclusion but still this proves that loss of sleep does not solve the problem but just hide it

E as it stand is a stronger contender.But just want to know a solid reason to eliminate C

egmat · Answer

Ok. I think whether we take your interpretation (depression was there but they did not feel it) or my interpretation (depression was not there) for option C, it does not matter much because option C uses the word "temporary", so even if the depression is healed, it is temporary. So, it sort of explains why sleep-deprivation is not used.

But again, we both agree that option E is better and the questions asks us to find the "best" answer statement, not the "correct" one.

-Chiranjeev

But again, we both agree that option E is better and the questions asks us to find the "best" answer statement, not the "correct" one.

-Chiranjeev

Avinash99 · Answer

Thanks for replying , yes I do agee with the answer but I just wanted to clarify my thought process,I have noticed that the more you think in these CR question the more you get them wrong .They basically are maths question where you have to apply simple addition subtraction on the value(premise) and come up with the answer .When u actually start reasoning in critical reasoning u get all question wrong . Is this what think ,or is what happens to others also One more question,I have seen people talk about prephrase and prethink....but when u think over the top...it takes mor tym fer u cum bak and see the obvious choice ...wuldnt it be better to analyse the choices on their merit rather dan make ur own answer b4 diving into the answer choice .Bcoz wat i see is 90 % of cr is in ur face answers and we confuse ourself by thinking too much :shock:

egmat · Answer

NO. The more you think, the better you become. The more critically you see, the more clear and sure you become of your answers. Critical Reasoning is not at all like Maths. In Maths, there is always black and white. In CR, there is a lot of grey area. Even in the question we discussed, we saw that option C could be interpreted in different ways and could be a weak contender for the answer. This is never applicable in Maths. Also, you NEVER get questions wrong even if you think INFINITELY more than required. The only requirement is that you don't go in the wrong direction. This requirement is even applicable when you think little. Right? We at e-GMAT not only read and solve OG questions but also eat, drink and breath them. You can look at our articles to get a sense of that: list-of-free-e-gmat-cr-resources-156073.html#p1246727 But this kind of analysis of OG questions does not make us wrong but instead supremely confident of the answers and the explanations we provide. Also, even if you look at this question, you knew that option E was better than option C. Right? Well, if 90% of CR questions actually throw questions in your face, then probably you need not prethink. In such a case, your accuracy is CR must already be around ~95%. Then, you need not worry about prethinking. It is meant for lesser mortals who have accuracy less than 85-90%. By the way, if you still interested in knowing about prethinking, you can attend our free session on 22nd September. You can register on our website for free trial; once you do that, you'll get all the notifications for free sessions. Thanks, Chiranjeev

MS1014 · Answer

For people like me who thought B could be the option thinking 'sleep deprivation treatment' is difficult to execute and is therefore not executed, missed the latter part of the sentence where comparison is with 'people not under depression'. For this option to be correct option it must have compared the 'Sleep Deprivation treatment' with the 'other treatments'. 
Cheers!

energetics · Answer

Prethinking: either sleep deprivation is even worse than the drugs or it is useless/impractical in some way.

This 'sounds' good at first glance as it shows some negative side effects but is actually problematic in several ways:

1) use of modifier "can" indicates a possibility only, not an absolute fact like "will" 
2) "temporary impairment of judgement" -- sounds bad, but what is temporary? 1 hour, 6 hours, until you sleep again, until you drink caffeine? We don't know.
3) "comparable to that induced by consuming several ounces of alcohol" -- in what sense is it comparable? Some people can drink many shots and feel OK. We don't know how bad the impairment is.

Way better at showing that it's impractical to use sleep deprivation.

analytica233 · Answer

I think one key point of the argument is that because the argument states that conventional treatments, which use drugs and electric shocks, are used  even though  they have  serious side effects , it is implied that the reason for not adopting sleep deprivation as a cure for depression is NOT about its side effects (conventional treatments even produce serious side-effects but are still adopted). So, a reason other than side-effects is needed. Option (E) says that sleep deprivation is actually  not effective  as a cure for depression. This option provides the real reason for not adopting sleep deprivation: it is not effective!!! Hence, (E) is correct.

sssanskaar · Answer

I have a question here. I chose option C over E because I couldn't convince myself enough to choose option E.

Context:
Sleep deprivation helps to reduce depression in some cases. Yet it is not used in medical treatments. Find out a reason for this.

Options C and E:
First, Option C: introduces a drawback and to our line of reasoning, although the mentioned drawback is temporary. We should keep C as of now.

Now, Option E:

Quote:

Depression returns in full force as soon as the patient sleeps for even a few minutes.

What does this even mean? This can be interpreted in two ways -

1. For any depressed person, the depression will return whenever he/she sleeps for even a few minutes. (This should happen daily as it is mentioned in the passage that occasional sleep deprivation helps.) This interpretation then weakens the point that why sleep deprivation is not being used in treatments.

OR

2. For a depressed person who has been instructed to be sleep deprived for sometime when he/she is under treatment(This part isn't mentioned in the option), depression will return in full force once he/she goes back to sleep again. This interpretation then strengthens the point that why sleep deprivation is not being used in treatments.

Kindly explain where I am going wrong in my understanding. And should the option E have been more clear?

Experts please help

. DmitryFarber TommyWallach egmat

DmitryFarber · Answer

sssanskaar 
I'm not sure there's really such a distinction between cases. The kind of sleep deprivation mentioned in the argument is missing one night's sleep. So if the symptoms return as the patient sleeps, that can only mean one thing: symptoms are relieved only for the day or so that the patient is awake after missing a night's sleep. For instance, maybe I stay up all Friday night. Then I feel better on Saturday and go to sleep on Saturday night. Sunday morning, I wake up depressed again. Or maybe I stay up Saturday night, too, and feel great until Sunday afternoon, when I finally take a 5-minute nap, and zap! My symptoms return. In other words, this is a very short-term form of symptom relief that can only work for that one day or so.

Also, notice that C is about prolonged sleep deprivation. We don't know whether one night's loss of sleep counts as such, nor whether the side effects describe constitute a reason not to use the treatment. If we didn't have the objection in E, we might imagine that one night's lost sleep could cure us of depression for a long time. Would you consent to something that made you feel impaired for a day if it would provide a years' worth of symptom relief? I bet you would! In short, we just don't know enough about the scenario to make any use of C.

sssanskaar · Answer

Thanks Dmitry for this wonderful clarification of my doubt and for always coming to the rescue! You are a lifesaver!

According to a review of 61 studies of patients suffering from severel

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