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In 1984, Dr. Norman Rosenthal and his colleagues published a seminal research paper on seasonal affective disorder (SAD), unveiling what they were convinced was the healing power of light therapy for people suffering from the illness. Since then, many scientific and medical communities have come to believe that the therapeutic use of light holds great promise for not only SAD, but also a variety of other disorders.
This wide-ranging book combines in a single, cohesive reference new, up-to-the-minute findings with a complete summary of the available literature on light therapy. Seventeen contributors, leading clinicians studying the effects and uses of light treatment, discuss the impact of light and light therapy on such conditions as SAD, premenstrual depression, circadian phase sleep disorders, jet lag, shift work disorders, insomnia, and behavioral disturbances. Challenging conventional thinking about light therapy, several contributing authors make convincing cases for its positive effects in treating nonseasonal depression, bulimia nervosa, and other illnesses. Finally, members of a joint task force of the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms and the American Sleep Disorders Association explore the use of light for treating sleep disorders, as well as a combination of light and melatonin in some cases.
Seasonal Affective Disorder and Beyond is an invaluable reference tool for clinicians, researchers, scientists, students, and consumers who want the latest information and opinion about the therapeutic uses of light compiled in one succinct, comprehensive volume.
Seasonal Affective Disorder and Beyond is for everyone who is—ideologically at least—from Missouri: everyone who wants to be shown how (and how laboriously) these scientific conclusions have been obtained. Each chapter contains detailed summations of the major research projects and papers, weaving them together so as to present both the tenable conclusions to date and the questions raised but left unanswered.
Raymond W. Lam, M.D., is Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Division of Mood Disorders at the University of British Columbia; Vancouver Hospital & Health Sciences Centre, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Preface. The healing light: interface of physics and biology. Light therapy for seasonal affective disorder. On the specific action and clinical domain of light therapy. Psychobiological studies of light therapy in seasonal affective disorder. Dawn simulation and bright light therapy for subsyndromal seasonal affective disorder. Light treatment for nonseasonal major depression: are we ready? Light therapy of premenstrual depression. Seasonality of bulimia nervosa and treatment with light therapy. Light and melatonin treatment of circadian phase sleep disorders. Bright light treatment for jet lag and shiftwork. Bright light treatment of sleep maintenance insomnia and behavioral disturbance. SAD and beyond: a commentary. Index.