ot: light boxes: A Portable Glow to Help Melt Those Winter Blues

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A Portable Glow to Help Melt Those Winter Blues

By RONI CARYN RABIN

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/health/policy/light-boxes-may-help-melt-those-\

winter-blues.html?src=recg

.....For the millions of Americans who suffer from mild to severe winter

blues — a condition called seasonal affective disorder

<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/seasonal-affective-disorder/ove\

rview.html?inline=nyt-classifier>,

or S.A.D. — bright-light therapy is the treatment of choice, with

response rates comparable with those of antidepressants

<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/ant\

idepressants/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>.

“Your natural clock is usually longer than 24 hours, and you need light

in the morning to set it and keep it on track,†said Dr. Alfred Lewy, a

professor of psychiatry

<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/psy\

chiatry_and_psychiatrists/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>

at Oregon Health and Science University and an expert on seasonal

depression

<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/depression/overview.html?inlin\

e=nyt-classifier>

and light therapy.

Yet many experts think light therapy is underused, given its

affordability and relative lack of side effects, in large part because

there is little profit to be made from it and no commercial incentive to

promote the treatment.

Patients generally sit in front of the light box, which can be as small

as 9 by 11 inches and 5 inches deep, with the bright light emanating

from the square surface, in the morning. “With the natural dawn being

later in winter, the body rhythms drift late,†Dr. Lewy said. “If you

can fix the drift, you can fix the depression.â€....

*MORE INFORMATION* Check the Web sites of the Society for Light Therapy

and Biological Rhythms at www.sltbr.org <http://www.sltbr.org> and

Center for Environmental Therapeutics at www.cet.org <http://www.cet.org>.