Summary Trazodone is widely prescribed as a sleep aid, although it is indicated for depression, not insomnia. Its daytime cognitive and psychomotor effects have not been systematically investigated in insomniacs. The primary goal of this study was to quantify, in primary insomniacs, the hypnotic efficacy of trazodone and subsequent daytime impairments. Sixteen primary insomniacs (mean age 44 years) participated, with insomnia confirmed by overnight polysomnography (sleep efficiency ≤ 85%). Trazodone 50 mg was administered to participants 30 minutes before bedtime for seven days, in a three-week, within-subjects, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design. Subjective effects, equilibrium (anterior/posterior body sway), short-term memory, verbal learning, simulated driving, and muscle endurance were assessed the morning after Days 1 and 7 of drug administration. Sleep was evaluated with overnight polysomnography and modified Multiple Sleep Latency Tests (MSLT) on Days 1 and 7. Trazodone produced small but significant impairments of short-term memory, verbal learning, equilibrium, and arm muscle endurance across time points. Relative to placebo across test days, trazodone was associated with fewer nighttime awakenings, minutes of Stage 1 sleep, and self-reports of difficulty sleeping. On Day 7 only, slow wave sleep was greater and objective measures of daytime sleepiness lower with trazodone than with placebo. Although trazodone is efficacious for sleep maintenance difficulties, its associated cognitive and motor impairments may provide a modest caveat to healthcare providers.

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With the outbreak of COVID-19, patients and providers were forced to isolate and become innovative in ways to continue exceptional patient care. The Cleveland Clinic went from mostly in-person medical appointments to all virtual/telemedicine care in about 2 weeks’ time. In this piece, we show specifically the thought process and our conversion of the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis Behavioral Medicine to ensure that our patients still receive exceptional care and patient experience. Additionally, we discuss the importance of innovating the training and supervision of postdoctoral trainees using telepsychology and virtual options.

Movement disturbances are often overlooked consequences of chronic cocaine abuse. The purpose of this study was to systematically investigate sensorimotor performance in chronic cocaine users and characterize changes in brain activity among movement-related regions of interest (ROIs) in these users. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected from fourteen chronic cocaine users and fifteen age and gender matched controls. All participants performed a sequential finger-tapping task with their dominant, right hand interleaved with blocks of rest. For each participant, percent signal change from rest was calculated for seven movement related ROIs in both the left and right hemisphere. Cocaine users had significantly longer reaction times and higher error rates than controls. Whereas the controls used a left-sided network of motor-related brain areas to perform the task, cocaine users activated a less lateralized pattern of brain activity. Users had significantly more activity in the ipsilateral (right) motor and premotor cortical areas, anterior cingulate cortex and the putamen than controls. These data demonstrate that, in addition to the cognitive and affective consequences of chronic cocaine abuse, there are also pronounced alterations in sensorimotor control in these individuals, which are associated with functional alterations throughout movement-related neural networks.