Light Therapy For Depression
It could be just historic coincidental that light treatment was first identified as a treatment for depression, because many new applications are on the horizon. This will have wide implications for reducing the dependence on drugs in the future. But it needs a intense clinical research effort to establish the efficacy of new applications - consider that it took 15 years for the classic trials of intense light treatment to come to completion.
Studies of light therapy for depression have not been restricted to depression.
There’s promising explanation that it might be efficacious in non seasonal depression also. A joint trial at Columbia varsity Medical Center and Wesleyan varsity suggests that patients with protracted depression - who have experienced nearly no relief in years - answer as well to light treatment as do patients with depression.
Dr. Daniel Kripke of the school of California at San Diego compared a collection of placebo-controlled trials of intense light with mood suppressor drug trials, and found the improvement rates to be similar. One serious difference is that light seems to work within one week, while medicines may take up to eight weeks to match the potency of light. Curiously light used with drugs seems to be better than either one alone. Many Western western european surgeries have just started to administer light treatment alongside drug treatment. Another promising use of intense light is in the treating of symptoms related to PMS. Many health tests have been completed, focussing on light treatment in the luteal phase preceding menstruation, with heavy relief of premenstrual depression.
Not only has light treatment helped improve the mood of PMS sufferers, but it seems to scale back the physical indications of “premenstrual tension.” Many ladies have made use of the care for approximately 2 years, with maintained positive reply. While a perfect dosing regimen still should be determined, light care stands as a choice especially for ladies who have not answered to medicine for PMS, or who have been worried by medicine complications and abandoned treatment due to this.
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