Depression and light therapy

Hello all, this is my very first post on the site...

I've had depression for the past five years now - I was originally diagnosed after I went to the GP with complaints of constant fatigue, which means I just don't have the drive or energy to do do things that I should enjoy, and it's very difficult for me to concentrate and make sense of even the simplest of things. Also, when I wake up I feel absolutely awful - like I hadn't slept at all! I've tried various anti-depressant medication and even psychotherapy, but none of those have really helped with the fatigue.

I read up on SAD, and most of the symptoms coincide with depression (except from the seasonal nature of course), so I decided to buy a Bright Spark light box to see if it would boost my energy. The first two days were amazing! My mood was extremely high, and my head felt buzzing with energy, I could concentrate really well and I was wide awake until a reasonable time - enjoying life for the first time in years. However, since then, I've gone back to square one, which is really disheartening. I'm only on day 7 of the treatment, so I'm hoping it will improve.

Does anyone else have depression, and if so has light therapy helped you?

You sitting next to your computer with your lamp as well Suzie?

I use my light twice a day. I have a light on a timer that turns it on 30 minutes before I wake. After I shower, I go into the living room where I turn on my second light while I sit at my computer desk.

I come home from work and the light goes on again. I actually use it as a main light source, so most of the time I'm here, it's turned on. I turn it off about 30 minutes before bedtime.

Hi Linda

That is a very good question...

You are correct in saying that my depression is constant rather than seasonal. However, the physical SYMPTOMS of depression and SAD are both a result of lack of seratonin released in the brain (albeit in depression there may be underlying "life problems" which in turn cause the lack of seratonin). AFTER I initially complained to my GP about the fatigue, I have been treated with anti-depressant medication and psychotherapy, the latter of which has helped me overcome my "life problems". However, physically and mentally I still feel very tired, which I figured could be down to my body still not releasing seratonin in my brain (for some reason). Hence my experiment to use light therapy, which stimulates this. I'm willing to try it, since I don't seem to have any other options/explanations.

Keep atit with the lightbox. You may have had the initial buzz because it was a shock to your bodys natural rythm. This is my first time with a lightbox only on day2. Dont worry about it im sure your body takes a while to ajust to a pattern of reciving the light.

Hi Tired Student,

The chemical imbalance idea of depression is a marketing ploy. No imbalance of serotonin has been scientifically found to cause depression.

Here is what Wikipedia says about chemical imbalance:

"Chemical imbalance is a term used, particularly but not exclusively in medicine, to describe a situation where different chemical substances required for correct functioning of a system are not present in the required or correct proportions.
Chemical imbalance is sometimes used as a lay explanation of mental illness or mental disorders. The term is used in consumer literature and websites for psychoactive drugs, and in advertising in the United States after the deregulation of pharmaceutical advertising. It is not used in scientific literature as it does not reflect current knowledge. A criticism of the use of this lay explanation is that explaining mental illness in terms of 'chemical imbalance' implicates a chemical solution. For example, reduced levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine in Parkinson's disease are treated with L-DOPA to increase dopamine production and relieve symptoms. By analogy, it then appears that the appropriate treatment for an imbalance in neurotransmitter levels in mental illness is a chemical that fixes this balance. However, unlike Parkinson's disease, chemical insufficiencies have never been identified in patients diagnosed with mental disorders, and other treatments are available for mental illness, and medication is often most effective when supplemented with other treatments."

Also, here is a good article from a medical journal called PLoS, titled "There is No Such Thing as a Psychiatric Disorder/Disease/Chemical Imbalance." http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1518691

Like I said, I totally understand where you're at. I was there too. Let go of the whole serotonin thing. You'll find some ideas in the Nutritional Info topic about how you can start to investigate what the root cause of your depression could be. I would start with diet, especially if you have been on prescription meds; these can take a lot of nutrients as your body metabolises them.

Best,
Linda.

Amalthea, you will come to learn that Linda thinks that no one else's theories amount to anything. Rosenthal doesn't know what he is talking about, all the research he has done is a load of rubbish, drugs and light therapy don't work. All the doctor's, drug companies, lightbox suppliers are out to exploit people like us. Linda is very anti drugs, anti lightbox, anti anything other than nutrition.

I am one of many on this forum who do believe and are living proof that light therapy and medication do work. I along with most people on here do actually suffer from and have been diagnosed with SAD. Anyone who does suffer with SAD will know the dreadful symptoms that overtake your whole being during the winter.

As a person who suffers from a chronic condition that is not curable (at this moment) I am prepared to to put my faith in the medical profession and the people who have researched SAD/depression to give me advice that makes my life more comfortable rather than an extract from a on line encyclopedia.

Sorry for the rant...... "The chemical imbalance idea of depression is a marketing ploy. No imbalance of serotonin has been scientifically found to cause depression"......this type of comment really infuriates me.

HI suzie, you might call it a rant, but im with you all the way, like you I was diagnosed with sad and chose to take medication and use a lightbox, this has been an enormous help for me, along with the wonderful support I have recieved from you and other people on the forum who I regard as friends.

My apologies Linda for misrepresenting your position on light therapy. Of course you couldn't be anti-light therapy, this is after all a light therapy website!!!!

.... but when we're hurt, isn't a sticking plaster just the thing to help keep things together until we're mended?

Hi everyone - this is my first time posting to a forum. I want to buy a light box, but don't know where to get reliable information on which are better than others. I'm concerned about costs, as well. Is it better to use fluorescent or incandescent? Thanks for being here.

Verilux has a new site that is pretty informative: http://www.verilux.com/light-therapy-lamps/seasonal-affective-disorder

I am interested to hear people saying here that the lightbox treated their fatigue but not their depression. I have tried a lightbox but not sucessfully yet, (not being able to fit into routine). I have all the classic SAD symptons, and have had for about 15 years, but I do find I am very emotionally affected - through the winter I mostly manage to hold it together to get to work but as soon as the sun goes down I get incredibly weepy, so I just go home and cry, pretty much every night.