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.
The statement 'Depression returns in full force as soon as the patient sleeps for even a few minutes' best explains the fact that sleep-deprivation is not used as a treatment for depression.