Early light treatment can prevent an emerging winter depression from developing into a full-blown depression.
The administration of light at the development of the first signs of a winter depression appears to prevent it from developing into a full-blown depression. Not a single patient from a group of 16 treated this way became severely depressed during the remaining part of the winter season, whereas 5 out of 11 from the non-treated control group did.
Meesters
Y
Y
Department of Biological Psychiatry, Academic Hospital Groningen, The Netherlands.
Jansen
J H
JH
Beersma
D G
DG
Bouhuys
A L
AL
van den Hoofdakker
R H
RH
D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010789:Phototherapy; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D016574:Seasonal Affective Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012890:Sleep