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Need research article: Light Therapy

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

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.

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:grouphug:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vowel Lady (Post 240374)

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

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.