Light Therapy Is
Until recent times it was believed that humans do not respond to the seasonal change in day-length, as other mammals do. However, in 1980, Dr. A. J. Lewy and co-workers at the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) demonstrated that high-intensity light affects the natural release of melatonin by the pineal gland in the brain in people. This finding determined that human physiology is influenced by light.
In 1981 Herbert Kern, a research engineer, noticed the publication of Dr. Lewy's study in the journal Science. He approached Dr. Lewy on the basis that if human physiology was sensitive to light, would it be feasible to use light to treat his depression, which he felt was related to the shortening days of winter. Mr. Kern had noticed that his depressive state appeared at almost the same time each fall and remitted each spring.
With the awareness that human physiology responds to light, Dr. Lewy, a psychiatrist, arranged to treat Mr. Kern's depression by extending his day length and creating an artificial summer. Since human physiology did not appear to respond to normal levels of artificial light, the researchers used a high-intensity light in an attempt to duplicate the effects of sunlight.
Mr Kern was exposed to two extra hours of this bright light, both in the morning and in the evening. The treatment worked. Within a short period the patient's depression lifted, and the practice of "light therapy" or phototherapy for the treatment of a seasonal pattern depression was born. Dr. Lewy termed this seasonal depression "Seasonal Affective Disorder", and coined the acronym "SAD", which is commonly used to this day. A milder, sub-clinical condition is known as "The Winter Blues" or "Cabin Fever".
Light therapy has been the focus of many studies. Dr. Lewy's studied how the technology of light therapy was found successful in the treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Additional studies have been done and have determined that light therapy is just as effective in treating other disorders such as PMS, Jet Lag, Non Seasonal Depression, Sleep Disorders and Eating Disorders just to name a few. Manufacturers have capitalized on this technology to create various light therapy products to treat these disorders. Light therapy is a relatively new technology research into its many uses is an ongoing process.
NEXT (Additional Disorders treated with Light Therapy)
HOME
