Anyone know of a really good research article on light therapy being used to treat Bipolar Disorder?


In addition, has anyone heard of good results with this treatment?

Thank you.

http://www.psycheducation.org/depres...ghtTherapy.htm
Light Therapy in Bipolar Disorder

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.

I suffered very badly when I lived back NE with SAD.

I was not diagnosed as BP yet, just severe chronic depression, GAD, SAD, etc.

I use to go to tanning salons to make me feel better and it worked.

I heard about the special lights, but couldn't afford one.

Now being diagnosed and living in AZ, my P-doc still says that even in the winter if you can call it winter here , I should get outside for at least 15-20 a day for sun, or just a walk in the sun.

So, all I can say is that light of any type helps.................
Nikko

Yes indeed, and actually if you go to the PsychCentral blog yesterday's Friday Flashback post has a link to an older post that has a ton of good info in the comments too. (I would give you the link but I haven't been a forum member long enough to post links yet, sorry.)

Most of the research so far has been for SAD, unipolar depression, and insomnia. A couple of good review articles:

The Efficacy of Light Therapy in the Treatment of Mood Disorders: A Review and Meta-Analysis of the Evidence, Golden et al., Am J Psychiatry 162:656-662, April 2005

Tuunainen A, Kripke DF, Endo T. Light therapy for non-seasonal depression. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2004, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD004050. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004050.pub2

It is being tested more for bipolar now, and dark therapy is looking intriguing too. The main problem with phototherapy as a bipolar treatment seems to be that it can trigger mania, just like every other treatment for depression.