Previous studies confirm that light therapy mainly aims to help treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Consequently, a new research has unearthed that such bright light therapy is also beneficial to people suffering from non-seasonal depression.
A study, which was completed by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver and has been published in JAMA Psychiatry on Nov. 18, revealed its first placebo-controlled initiative. Medical Daily reported that its findings consider light therapy to be an effective way to cope with ordinary, non-seasonal and clinical depression and anxiety.
"These results are very exciting because light therapy is inexpensive, easy to access and use, and comes with few side effects," lead researcher and UBC professor Dr. Raymond Lam said in the press release.
Using "bright light therapy" either alone or combined with an anti-depressant might help treat their condition. With a sample of 122 individuals who are experiencing major depression, the research took eight weeks to be able to come up with the findings.
People who were treated with either a bright light box or a combination of light box therapy with an antidepressant drug experienced more improvement in their conditions and symptoms than those "people treated with a placebo".
"Patients can easily use light therapy along with other treatments such as antidepressants and psychotherapy," he added.
On the other hand, Kelly Rohan, a psychology professor at the University of Vermont, said in the press release that light therapy is a palliative remedy like that of a blood pressure medication - requiring someone to keep using the treatment for it to be effective.
Measuring the severity of the people's depression symptoms at the beginning and at the end of the study with a standard scale often used in psychiatry, the reseachers strongly recommend that people with clinical depression should always contact a health care professional and at the same time, have each treatment supervised by a registered or licensed medical worker or therapist.
As of this writing, further studies on these therapeutic claims are still encouraged as every patient responds to the treatment differently.
