Light Therapy An Alternative Treatment For Depression

Has there been any development, such as using alternative therapies, in researching new ways of treating different types of depression? It is said that over the last few years, there has been a great number of diagnosed and treated cases of depression and SAD, seasonal affective disorder alternative medicines and therapies. In the course of looking for a cure to this, a new alternative treatment has been brought to existence to address the issue on the aforementioned disorder.

Light Therapy is the latest among the alternative treatments for depression. Light Box Therapy for depression has become one of the favorite light therapy products used for this disorder. Light Therapy or light treatment use 'light boxes'. 10,000 lux of artificial light are provided by these light boxes. Light Therapy, which is also referred to as phototherapy, usually consists of exposure to particular wavelengths of light depending how much is being prescribed for a certain amount of time.

People who experience seasonal affective disorder have found the Light Therapy treatment to be effective. This mood disorder is usually known as winter depression or winter blues. During the winter season this type of depression can be experienced by the patient repeatedly. Many experience the feeling of depression year after year. On the other hand, aside from seasonal affective disorder, light boxes were proven to help other types of depression as well.

The advantage of light boxes is that they do not cause skin damage compared to a other varieties of light therapies, that use ultraviolet light. Prolonged exposure from ultraviolet light is known to damage the skin. Blue Light Treatment is somehow associated with light box treatment, although compared to blue light, the light box gives a quicker therapeutic response to the individual who uses it. However, it has been found that Blue Light Therapy to treat depression could be as responsive as using light boxes or light box therapy on younger patients.

The response to any form of Light Therapy usually will show results in about two to four days, but extensive disorders such as depression may take up to three weeks.