[Bright light therapy in pregnant women depression--3 case studies].

AIM

Bright light therapy (BLT) is a new method of biological treatment in psychiatry. Good tolerance makes it an attractive method used not only in seasonal affective disorder. An episode of depression during pregnancy may be a new indication. The study aimed to describe effects of treatment of depression in 3 pregnant women.

METHOD

The women were out-patients in their 6-th, 7-th and 8-th months of pregnancy and diagnosed with depression according to ICD-10 criteria. The treatment was a morning exposure to 1 hour 5 000 LUX bright light from Monday to Friday. The antidepressant effect was assessed after the 2nd and 4th week of BLT. Side effects of BLT were monitored over the whole BLT treatment period.

RESULTS

The mean improvement of depressive symptoms after 2 and 4 weeks of BLT was 33% and 55%, respectively. Side effects were not observed in any of the patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Morning BLT seems to be an effective and a very well tolerated mode of treatment of pregnant women suffering from non-seasonal depression. The manner and length of BLT maintenance treatment requires further studies.