http://www.psycheducation.org/depres...ghtTherapy.htm
Light Therapy in Bipolar Disorder
Quote:
Light therapy is probably one of the safer antidepressant treatments for bipolar depression. Low "doses" can be safe for many people. But too big a dose can cause manic symptoms, just like any other antidepressant. So you have to be careful. Have your doctor help you find a safe dose -- one which does not produce any "manic side" symptoms or interfere with sleep.
While you are at it, consider the following recent research finding from December 2007. In a very small study, which we will need to see repeated before we take this finding too strictly, 6 out of 9 women with severe bipolar depression showed a clear response to light therapy.Sit
They did not have "seasonal" depression, but rather bipolar depression (although the season of the year in which the data was collected was not reported, to my recollection ). Here's the important finding: morning light may be more likely to trigger manic symptoms, leading to a "mixed state" of manic and depressed symptoms at the same time, than midday light.
Following the usual protocol for life therapy, using it first thing in the morning (30 minutes before their usual wake time, in this case) three out of the first four women in this study developed mixed episodes (irritability, elevated energy, increased activity, creativity, aggression, racing thoughts, pressured speech).
Based on that experience they changed the protocol so that everyone received light in the middle of the day instead. With this arrangement, four were full responders, meaning a complete or near-complete cessation of depression symptoms. Two others were "partial responders", clearly improved but not fully.
Therefore, for the moment, the optimal timing of light therapy for people with bipolar depression is uncertain. For safety reasons it may be wise for people with bipolar depression to begin with midday light rather than morning light, switching to the morning if no improvement is seen. However, because this was such a small study, it is really too early to reach a firm conclusion on this. A standard approach to life therapy, using morning light, it is not unreasonable. One just has to watch out for the emergence of mixed symptoms as detailed above.
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When you go to the page you can you will see lots of links/footnotes to research.
I used a light box and developed anxiety. Perhaps I was using too high a dose.
M.