Posted by Larry Hoover on September 9, 2004, at 11:07:25
In reply to Re: Light box therapy...any current users? » sb417, posted by KaraS on September 6, 2004, at 23:34:45
> > Kara, I think the reason that spending a lot of time outdoors in the winter won't help as much is that the intensity of the light is not sufficient.
>
> sb, I meant in terms of using it now. Larry said that you have to start to use it now before the winter comes. It's still summer where I am and it's sunny every day until late fall here (in S. Cal.) so I also wasn't thinking about it from the right perspective as someone in Canada or the midwest. But still, if it's only early autumn and still sunny there, then why should they have to start using it so quickly?I didn't say "have to", I said it was better. Response is best when light treatment begins before symptoms arise. There was an excellent article on the subject in Biological Psychiatry, but that's a pay-per-article journal. Here's a suggestive abstract:
Psychol Med. 1996 Sep;26(5):1075-80.
Prevention of winter seasonal affective disorder by bright-light treatment.
Partonen T, Lonnqvist J.
Department of Mental Health, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
In patients with winter seasonal affective disorder (SAD) the onset of a depressive episode is probably associated with the decreasing amount of light during the autumn. A highly predictable onset of a recurrent depressive episode with seasonal pattern provides a rationale for testing the efficacy of bright-light treatment as a preventive measure. Twelve out-patients with winter SAD were assigned to start bright light treatment either when they were well, or not to start it until the first symptoms of depression had already emerged. The severity of depressive symptoms was prospectively rated for a parallel randomized comparison. Bright light given well in advance of the emerging symptoms prevented a depressive episode. Clinical remission was significantly more frequent in the former subgroup of the patients in January and in March. To sum up, bright light can be successfully administered as prophylactic treatment for the prevention of winter SAD.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:386953
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040901/msgs/388686.html