Light visor treament for seasonal affective disorder: A multicenter study

The effectiveness of light therapy in seasonal affective disorder (SAD) was evaluated in 105 subjects across five centers. Three intensities of light (60 lux, 600 lux, and 3500 lux) were used in a 2-week randomized, parallel design. There was no significant difference in antidepressant efficacy of t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychiatry research 1993, Vol.46 (1), p.29-39
Main Authors: Joffe, Russell T., Moul, Douglas E., Lam, Raymond W., Levitt, Anthony J., Teicher, Martin H., Lebegue, Breck, Oren, Dan A., Buchanan, Alan, Glod, Carol A., Murray, Megan G., Brown, Joanne, Schwartz, Paul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
circannual rhythm
Depression
phototherapy
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The effectiveness of light therapy in seasonal affective disorder (SAD) was evaluated in 105 subjects across five centers. Three intensities of light (60 lux, 600 lux, and 3500 lux) were used in a 2-week randomized, parallel design. There was no significant difference in antidepressant efficacy of the three intensities of light. All three intensities produced a similar frequency of antidepressant response to each other and to that reported in previous studies. There were site differences in the severity of depression during light treatment, but diagnosis and medication status did not affect antidepressant response. These findings suggest that light therapy has an antidepressant action by a nonspecific effect or that light is biologically active in the treatment of SAD across a wide range of intensities.
ISSN:0165-1781
1872-7123
DOI:10.1016/0165-1781(93)90005-2