Light Therapy for Depression and Anxiety kevin Light therapy therapy for Depression Light Therapy for Depression and Sleep Problems The production of the hormone melatonin, a sleep regulator, is inhibited by light and permitted by darkness. To some degree, the reverse is true for serotonin, which has been linked to mood disorders. Hence, for the purpose of manipulating melatonin levels or timing, light boxes providing very specific types of artificial illumination are effective. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): People with seasonal affective disorder go into depression like states during the winter months. This is seen in places where the amount of daylight is very less in these seasons (countries near the North Pole, for instance). The cure for these people is full sunlight. So, light boxes which replicate sunlight conditions are used for these patients. These use artificial illumination to re-create the fully lighted atmospheric conditions that are normally present in sunlight. While full sunlight is preferred for seasonal affective disorder (SAD),
light boxes may be effective for the treatment of the condition. The
United States Food and Drug Administration has not approved the use of
light boxes to treat SAD due to unclear results in clinical trials, but
light therapy is still seen as a possible form of treatment for SAD.
Direct sunlight, reflected into the windows of a home or office by a
computer-controlled mirror device called a heliostat, has also been used
as a type of light therapy for the treatment of SAD. Dr. Normal E. Rosenthal’s seminal 1985 paper defining Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) was the first to describe application of bright artificial light in the treatment of winter depression. Rosenthal’s hypothesis was that lengthening the daily photoperiod (in effect mimicking summer day length in the northern latitudes) would effect a remission of winter depressive symptoms. Non-seasonal depression Light therapy has also been suggested in the treatment of non-seasonal
depression and other psychiatric disturbances, including major depressive
disorder, bipolar disorder and postpartum depression.. A meta-analysis
by the Cochrane Collaboration concluded that “For patients suffering
from non-seasonal depression, light therapy offers modest though promising
antidepressive efficacy”. Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS): People suffering with Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS) have problems sleeping and often end up falling asleep way past midnight and thus have difficulty waking up in the morning. In these cases the light must be provided as soon as the patient wakes up. Light therapy is useful for the people suffering from DSPS because it causes dawn simulation. Chronic CRSD In the management of circadian rhythm disorders such as delayed sleep phase syndrome, the timing of light exposure is critical. For DSPS, the light must be provided as soon after spontaneous awakening as possible to achieve the desired effect, as shown by the phase response curve for light in humans. Some users have reported success with lights that turn on shortly ”before” awakening (dawn simulation). Morning use may also be effective for non-24-hour sleep-wake syndrome, while evening use is recommended for advanced sleep phase syndrome. Other Benefits of Bright Light Therapy Increasingly, light therapy is being used to reset our body clocks – sometimes along with melatonin and sometimes on its own-no matter how or why they’ve been put off track. Scientists are discovering that light therapy may have potential for treatment of several other disorders in addition to that of SAD. Another area where bright light therapy has proven itself beneficial is in the area of sleep disorders. Advanced sleep phase syndrome (ASPS) is characterized by premature sleep onset and early morning awakening. Future applications of bright light therapy may well include any area where a disease or syndrome recurs seasonally, shows winter exacerbation, or plausibly is related to insufficient or ill-timed outdoor light exposure regardless of the season. * Early Morning Insomnia |