The clocks have changed and the days are getting shorter. People who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder are about to enter a difficult time of year.
Seasonal Affective Disorder or S.A.D. is traditionally treated with light-based therapy.
As Vermonters break out the winter coats and snow tires, some people are also switching on special lights. University of Vermont psychology professor, Kelly Rohan, says the lights are proven to help with S.A.D. when they're used every morning.
“[The light] is thought to act upon sluggish circadian rhythms, by creating an artificial early dawn to shift those sluggish rhythms back to the position that they would be in in the summertime.”
But now, Rohan has found an alternative to keep people happy through the darkest months of the year.
According to Rohan’s research, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry this week, a specialized form of talk therapy provides better, long-term results.
Rohan says the key difference is that light therapy only works if a person consistently uses the special S.A.D. light. If a patient stops the therapy, they stop feeling better.
"Only 30 percent ... of our light therapy subjects reported any kind of light therapy at a follow-up visit. This is a real problem for a treatment that's designed to be palliative. It suppresses the symptoms. You have to keep it up in order to expect benefits." - Kelly Rohan, University of Vermont psychology professor
Her research found that a type of talk therapy, called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, works better by teaching patients how to avoid depressive thought patterns.
“[Patients] then have an approach they can rely on to cope differently in times of high stress and mood changes, such as winter in the case of S.A.D.,” Rohan explains. “They have an arsenal of tools to draw from.”
So instead of having to use an actual tool every day, subjects in the study were able to make use of these mental tools even when they weren't actively in therapy anymore.
Rohan says this is important because people tend to be pretty bad at using light therapy consistently.
“Only 30 percent — one in three — of our light therapy subjects reported any kind of light therapy at a follow-up visit. This is a real problem for a treatment that's designed to be palliative,” says Rohan. “It suppresses the symptoms. You have to keep it up in order to expect benefits.”
Rohan says mental health professionals trained in Cognitive Behavior Therapy can learn S.A.D. specialized therapy fairly easily.
She also said people shouldn't try to self-diagnose or self-treat S.A.D. and should seek treatment from a professional if they have mental health concerns.
