Treatment of seasonal affective disorder with high-intensity light
Abstract
The standard phototherapy procedure for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) has been to expose patients to 2500 lux light intensity for 2 h. This study investigated whether high-intensity light treatment with a brief exposure time would relieve symptoms of SAD. Ten SAD patients were randomly assigned to 40-min exposure to 10,000 lux white light or to 400 lux red light which served as placebo. Each patient received treatment for 8 days, and after a wash-out period was crossed over to the other treatment condition. Depression was assessed by the 21-item HDRS and SIGH-SAD by a blind rater and the patients completed the BDI for self-assessment. Significantly greater improvement was found with 10,000 lux treatment than with the placebo (P = 0.011, P = 0.017 and P = 0.028 for SIGH-SAD, HDRS and BDI respectively). The 10,000 lux therapy improved the SIGH-SAD score by an average of 16.1 while the average improvement on placebo treatment was 5.0. The patients were rated again the following summer; most of them were the symptomless. Those patients who improved most on phototherapy also tended to improve most during the summer.
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Fourteen articles reported effects of various visible light interventions on SIGH-SAD of patients with SAD.
“Fourteen articles[25–36,38,39] reported the effects of various visible light interventions on SIGH-SAD of patients with SAD.”
From Effectiveness of visible light for seasonal affective disorder: A systematic review and network meta-analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [28]
Thirteen articles reported effects of different visible light interventions on HDRS of patients with SAD.
“Thirteen articles[23,28–38,40] reported the effects of different visible light interventions on HDRS of patients with SAD”
From Effectiveness of visible light for seasonal affective disorder: A systematic review and network meta-analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [28]
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- Authors
- Magnusson, A., & Kritbjarnarson, H.
- Affiliations
- National University Hospital of Iceland (IS)
- Corresponding author
- Kritbjarnarson, Helgi
- Venue
- Journal of Affective Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1991-02
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 141-147
- ISSN
- 0165-0327 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1537814266
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 0.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Affective Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Light effects on plants
- Keywords
- seasonal affective disorder, phototherapy, high light, white light, light intensity, depression, symptom remission
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Circadian Rhythm, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Iceland, Male, Middle Aged, Personality Tests, Phototherapy, Seasons
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