Light Therapy: Good for What Ails You?

Topics: ADHD | Alternative treatments | Antidepressant Augmentation | Bipolar Depression | Bulimia Nervosa | Complementary treatments | Complimentary Medicine | Depression | Depressive Disorder | Light and Dark Therapy | Light therapy | Lightbox | PTSD | Seasonal Affective Disorder | Sexual Dysfunction | Sleep | Sleep Disorders | Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

There are several lifestyle changes with broad health benefits that we often encourage in our patients. Exercise, a healthy diet, sleep hygiene, and supportive social connections are near the top of the list, and bright daytime light might be worth adding. Light therapy is a standard treatment for seasonal affective disorder, and in this article we’ll

Shining a Light on PTSD

Topics: Complementary treatments | Light therapy | Lightbox | natural treatments | PTSD | Randomized controlled trial | Research | Research Update | Seasonal Affective Disorder | Trauma

Review of: Youngstedt SD et al, Mil Med 2021 (Epub ahead of print) Study type: Randomized, sham-controlled trial As stated in the previous brief, PTSD is difficult to treat, and numerous interventions for PTSD have failed with veterans. This study took a different approach; it is the first randomized controlled trial of light therapy for PTSD. Conduc

A Practical Guide to Light Therapy

Topics: Alternative treatments | Bipolar Disorder | Complementary treatments | Depression | Depressive Disorder | Light and Dark Therapy | Light therapy | Lightbox | natural treatments | Seasonal Affective Disorder

Outdoor living, morning light, evening darkness, and regular rhythms of sleep and waking all have one thing in common: They prevent depression. That’s the conclusion of many large epidemiologic studies, but for people who work indoors and wake up to dark winter mornings, this isn’t good news (Asai Y et al, J Affect Disord 2018;241:235–240). Here�

Does Light Therapy Work for Non-Seasonal Depression?

Topics: Depressive Disorder | Seasonal Affective Disorder

Four Newer Antidepressants: Should You Use Them?

Topics: Antidepressants | Depressive Disorder | Practice Tools and Tips | Psychopharmacology Tips | Seasonal Affective Disorder

Since 2011, 3 new antidepressants have been approved by the FDA, and another (ketamine) has been generating buzz as a potential off-label medication for depression. In this article, we’ll take a step back and review the data on vilazodone (Viibryd), levomilnacipran (Fetzima), vortioxetine (Brintellix), and ketamine. Vilazodone (Viibryd) Vilazodone

Thinking Creatively About Treatment-Resistant Depression

Topics: Antidepressants | Depressive Disorder | Practice Tools and Tips | Psychopharmacology Tips | Seasonal Affective Disorder

TCPR: The term “treatment-resistant depression” is sort of thrown around a bit. I’m sure that there are various formal or informal definitions of it, but how do you think about it? Dr. Bodkin: The formal definition basically requires 2 failures of distinctly different antidepressants at robust doses for adequate duration. But personally, I thin

Does Light Therapy Work for Non-Seasonal Depression?

Topics: Depressive Disorder | Research Update | Seasonal Affective Disorder

(Lam R et al, JAMA Psychiatry 2016;73(1):56-63) Many studies have shown that light therapy works for seasonal affective disorder, but does it work for non-seasonal major depression? That’s less clear. Systematic reviews have yielded inconclusive results, in part because prior studies have had methodological weaknesses. A new study with a robust des

Sunshine Linked to Suicide Rates

Topics: Research Updates | Seasonal Affective Disorder

Light Therapy and Other Treatments for SAD

Topics: Seasonal Affective Disorder

A Primer on Seasonal Affective Disorder

Topics: Seasonal Affective Disorder

In his memoir, A Moveable Feast, the author Ernest Hemingway reflects on the sadness of the winter season: “You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintery light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the r

Alternative Treatments for Depression

Topics: Antidepressants | Depressive Disorder | Natural Medications | Seasonal Affective Disorder

No clinician wants to be a “pill-pusher,” and most of our patients do not want that kind of treatment. So what can we offer our depressed patients beyond medications? In this article, we’ll review the literature on nonpharmacological strategies, including dietary supplements, food recommendations, light therapy, yoga and mindfulness meditation, an

Light Therapy for Depression: Does it Work?

Topics: Seasonal Affective Disorder

How convincing is the evidence that light therapy actually works? The pace of research on bright light therapy has accelerated over the last few years, and recently, two meta-analyses of this research have been published, one in the American Journal of Psychiatry (2005;162:656-662), and the other in the web-based Cochrane Library (http://www.cochrane

Blue Light: The Cutting Edge of Light Therapy

Topics: Seasonal Affective Disorder

If you haven’t started hearing about the “benefits” of blue light therapy yet, you will soon. Blue light boosters argue that it is more effective than white light, and that it is the therapeutic ingredient of standard white light that eases seasonal depression. In order to understand this debate, you will have to refresh your memory about the p

Light Boxes: An Unscientific Test Drive

Topics: Seasonal Affective Disorder

Since I had never actually seen a light box in the flesh, I asked some of the larger companies to send me samples for a “review”—not for efficacy but for such qualities as convenience, asthetics, pleasantness, etc… A word on brightness and distances. Many of the bight light studies recommend 10,000 luxes of exposure for 20-30 minutes a day. L

Seasonal Affective Disorder: Two Quick Takes

Topics: Seasonal Affective Disorder

Wellbutrin XL was approved for the prevention of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), based on the results three studies in which over 1,000 patients with SAD (but who were well at study entry) were randomly assigned to either Wellbutrin XL 150 to 300 mg QD or placebo. Patients began treatment in the fall and were observed for depressive relapse

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Topics: Seasonal Affective Disorder

Dr. Rosenthal, as the “father” of light therapy, how did you got interested in doing research on seasonal affective disorder? Well, I came to this country from South Africa in 1976. I started my psychiatry residency at Columbia, and I had always been interested in the mood disorders. In New York City, which is at 40 degrees north latitude, as oppos