Research Leads To More Effective Treatments For SAD

If the cold weather is leaving you grouchy, down in the dumps, lethargic, a bit heavier than usual, and finding your sleep patterns changed, you may have a case of seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. The good news is that the latest research is helping doctors make great strides in fine-tuning their treatment of SAD.

Researchers are looking at timing light therapy with a patient’s biorhythms; treating them with smaller, portable lights; and studying people’s reactions to the winter absence of electrically charged negative ions that occur naturally in the spring air.

“While some of these solutions are still in the research stage, I think the word has been out to people who get depressed in the winter that this is something that can be treated,” said Paul Desan, MD, PhD, director of the Winter Depression Research Clinic at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

SAD became an official diagnosis in the late 1980s. Optimum treatments, including antidepressants and light therapy, emerged in the late 90s. Studies estimate that about five percent of people who live in areas that are at about the same latitude as Connecticut suffer from true SAD; about three times that number report significant problems with mood, energy, and sleep during the winter.

Now the focus is on finding ways to make light exposure treatment more convenient for people, said Dr Desan. At the Winter Depression Clinic, Dr Desan and colleagues are looking at treating patients who would otherwise sit for long periods in front of a large light a portable light box about twice as big as a palm-held computer. When patients use the box also makes a difference, he said. “We’re giving people treatment based on their optimum biological clock. If it’s done right, you need less exposure to light and treatment becomes much more convenient,” Dr Desan said.

Other studies are looking at treating patients with a negative ion box. In the fall and winter levels of negatively charged particles in the air drop, which could affect the onset of depression in these months.

Dr Desan stresses the importance of consulting a mental health professional before pursuing treatment for SAD or any type of depression. He says SAD has already spawned a market on the Internet and elsewhere for treatment lights, glasses with different-colored lenses, and other devices that are not medically approved, are usually ineffective, and may even be harmful. Patients who start with their doctor will find that most insurance plans will cover medically approved treatment devices if the patient can provide a letter from a psychiatrist, Dr Desan said.