Short exposure to light treatment improves depression scores in patients with seasonal affective disorder: A brief report

The present explosive growth of interest in the therapeutic possibilities of exposure to light was triggered by a patient, Herbert Kern. He suffered from episodic depressive and manic complaints and discovered, by registering these over the years, a seasonal pattern in their occurrence. Discussions with scientists of the NIMH resulted in his participation in a bright light-treatment experiment when he was depressed in the winter of 1980-1981. He recovered.Next, the same group of investigators defined the criteria for a new syndrome, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): a history of major affective disorder (according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria), at least two consecutive years in which the depressions have occurred during fall or winter and remitted in the following spring or summer, and the absence of any clear-cut seasonally changing psychosocial variable, such as work, stress and so on.

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Greater Improvement in Summer Than With Light Treatment in Winter in Patients With Seasonal Affective Disorder

American Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1176/ajp.155.11.1614 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 155 (11) ◽

pp. 1614-1616 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Teodor T. Postolache ◽

Todd A. Hardin ◽

Frances S. Myers ◽

Erick H. Turner ◽

Ludy Y. Yi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Affective Disorder ◽

Seasonal Affective Disorder ◽

Light Treatment

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Light Therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder the Effects of Timing

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.166.5.607 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 166 (5) ◽

pp. 607-612 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Y. Meesters ◽

J. H. C. Jansen ◽

D. G. M. Beersma ◽

A. L. Bouhuys ◽

R. H. Van Den Hoofdakker

Keyword(s):

Affective Disorder ◽

Seasonal Affective Disorder ◽

Response Rates ◽

Light Therapy ◽

Light Treatment ◽

Therapeutic Outcome ◽

Short Term ◽

Rank Ordering ◽

Term Rank

BackgroundSixty-eight patients with seasonal affective disorder participated in a 10 000-lux light treatment study in which two questions were addressed: do response rates differ when the light is applied at different times of the day and does short-term rank ordering of morning and evening light influence response rates?MethodThree groups of patients received a 4-day light treatment: (I) in the morning (8.00–8.30 a.m., n = 14), (II) in the afternoon (1.00–1.30 p.m., n = 15) or (III) in the evening (8.00–8.30 p.m., n = 12). Two additional groups of patients received two days of morning light treatment followed by two days of evening light (IV, n = 13) or vice versa (V, n = 14).ResultsResponse rates for groups I, II and III were 69, 57 and 80% respectively, with no significant differences between them. Response rates for groups IV and V were 67 and 50% respectively; this difference was not significant and these percentages did not differ significantly from those of groups I and III.ConclusionsThe results indicate that the timing of light treatment is not critical and that short-term rank ordering of morning and evening light does not influence therapeutic outcome.

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