A Superior Light Therapy Lamp for Mood Disorders

Green LIGHT Therapy Lamps and the Treatment of Non-Seasonal Major and Bipolar Depression

For over a decade the low-intensity Lo-LIGHT therapy lamp has provided the benefits of light therapy for sleep and mood disorders including SAD (also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder or Winter Depression) to numerous customers safely and comfortably.

More recently, studies have found that the use of Lo-LIGHT therapy lamps also provides dramatic benefits in the treatment of Non-Seasonal Depression. A study using Sunnex Biotechnologies patented low intensity green light technology published in Archives of General Psychiatry (Feb 2007, Benedetti et al), found that a one week, side-effect-free treatment of "Total sleep deprivation combined with light therapy causes rapid amelioration of bipolar depression", and that this relief from depression was sustained.

An earlier study (J Clin Psychiatry 2005, Benedetti et al) using the same one week treatment protocol with sleep deprivation and low-intensity green light therapy, found that the majority of patients without a history of drug resistance remained symptom free for the entire 9 month follow-up period. Other studies have found that cessation of light therapy for the treatment of non-seasonal depression results in a more rapid relapse, indicating that the months of relief from the GreenLIGHT/sleep deprivation protocol could have been further extended through the continued use of low intensity Lo-LIGHT therapy lamps.

The lead author of these studies, Dr. Benedetti, explained how light therapy extends the very transient antidepressant effect of sleep deprivation from one day to several months in an article in the journal Science (Sept 14, 2007, Bhattacharjee Y).

Benedetti et al. explained in ther paper on the treatment of bipolar depression that the use of low intensity green light, rather than bright light, for the light therapy was to avoid potential retinal damage in patients taking lithium, which is photosensitizing, and would increase patients susceptibility to retinal damage.
An earlier study (J. Clinical Psychiatry 2003, Benedetti et al) using Lo-LIGHT therapy lamps to treat patients suffering with severe Major Depression, had also found dramatic benefits from the use of Lo-LIGHT therapy lamp in combination with an antidepressant medication. In this paper the authors explained the importance of low intensity green light to avoid retinal damage, as antidepressant medications are photosensitizing and increase the risk of retinal damage from blue light exposure.

See studies on the treatment of non-seasonal depression