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Clinical Research Results of
Light Therapy
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| “The now-standard treatment for SAD - 30 minutes of 10,000 LUX, diffused, white fluorescent light taken early in the morning - helps about half of SAD patients fully remit, regaining energy and positive moods. Remission rates climb to 80 percent if light therapy is tailored to a person’s individual sleep-wake cycle.... Bright light therapy, administered at the right time and in the right dose, is the most efficient, tested and safe method for treating SAD.” |
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- - Terman, M, Columbia University Medical Center Psychology Professor, cited in American Psy chological Association’s Monitor on Psychology, February 2006, 18-19
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| “This analysis of randomized, controlled trials suggests that bright light treatment and dawn simulation for seasonal affective disorder and bright light for nonseasonal depression are efficacious, with effect sizes equivalent to those in most antidepressant pharmacotherapy trials.” |
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- - Golden, R. N., et al: The efficacy of light therapy in the treatment of mood disorders: A review and meta-analysis of the evidence. American Journal of Psychiatry, 2005; 162:4, 656-662
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| “Light therapy and fluoxetine [Prozac] are comparably effective treatments for patients with seasonal affective disorder, although light treatment may have a slightly faster onset of effect and slightly fewer treatment-emergent adverse events.” |
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- - Lam, R. W., et.al: The Can-SAD study: A randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of light therapy and fluoxetine in patients with winter seasonal affective disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 2006, 163:5, 805-812
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| “Students in full-spectrum light were healthier overall and attended school 3.2 to 3.8 days more per year. They also exhibited more positive moods. . . Students in classrooms with the most natural light progressed 20% faster on math tests and 26% faster on reading tests in one year than those with the least amount of daylight.” |
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- - Wakefield, J. Learning the hard way: The poor environment of America’s schools. Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 110, Number 6, June 2002.
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| “Marked improvement is usually observed within four or five days, if not sooner. . . . Some people take longer than the usual few days to respond to light. It is therefore worth persevering for a week or two before concluding that light therapy doesn’t work. Most users maintain a consistent daily schedule of light exposures beginning - as needed - in fall or winter and usually continuing until spring.” |
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- - Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rythms: Questions and answers about seasonal affective disorder and light therapy; Revised, May, 2000
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| “After 3 weeks of treatment, mean depression ratings improved by 49%.... There was no evidence of adverse effects of light therapy on pregnancy.... These data provide evidence that morning light therapy has an antidepressant effect during pregnancy.” |
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- - Oren, D. A., et al:An open trial of morning light therapy for treatment of antepartum depression. American Journal of9 Psychiatry, 2002, 159:666-669
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| “It was concluded that Bright Light Therapy treatment of SAD is fast, inexpensive, and effective for college students, and should be available at all colleges where SAD is prevalent.” |
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- - Spezzano, Mark Allen, The efficacy of bright light treatment on the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder on a college-aged population. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering Vol 67(9-B), 2007, pp. 5423
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