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Article: Light therapy for SAD is effective over the short term.(Patient-oriented evidence that matters)(seasonal affective disorder )
- Article from:
- JAAPA-Journal of the American Academy of Physicians Assistants
- Article date:
- January 1, 2006
- Author:
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Clinical question In patients with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) or other types of depression, is light therapy effective as sole therapy or as an adjunct therapy?
Bottom line The available published research literature provides very weak evidence that light therapy is effective for SAD or nonseasonal depression. There seems to be a large acute effect of light therapy on symptoms of SAD in the first week of treatment, but this effect disappears quickly thereafter. When studied for only 7 days, light therapy had a moderate effect on patients with nonseasonal depression. Light therapy does not produce an additional effect when combined with pharmacologic ...