Department of Child and Adolescents Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Ward, John Paul II Pediatric Center, ul. Zapolskiej 3, 41-218 Sosnowiec, Poland.
J Affect Disord. 2011 May;130(3):462-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2010.10.014. Epub 2010 Nov 13.
Light therapy refers to two different categories of treatment. One of them is used in common medical practice and the other in complementary medicine. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of short time (6 weeks) bright light treatment (BLT) on depressive symptoms in female patients with the restrictive type of anorexia nervosa (AN-R).
Twenty-four girls, aged 15-20 (mean 17.4±1) years, diagnosed as AN-R, with concomitant depressive symptoms ≥17 points on the 21-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) were studied. All girls received cognitive behavioral therapy. Among them, twelve were randomly assigned to additional treatment with BLT for 6 weeks (10,000 lux, 30 min daily). Both groups did not differ on baseline demographic and clinical parameters. The assessments of depression by means of HDRS and measuring of body mass index (BMI) were done weekly throughout the treatment.
Improvement of depression was significantly greater in the group receiving BLT, with a significant difference between groups in depression intensity after 5 and 6 weeks. There was no difference in the increase of BMI between groups after 6 weeks, although such increase started earlier in patients treated with BLT.
Six weeks of treatment may be an insufficient duration to draw the conclusion about the efficacy of BLT and a follow-up is needed to assess the maintenance of the effect.
The results obtained may suggest that BLT could be an effective non-pharmacological modality for the treatment of depression in patients with AN-R.
光照疗法是两种不同类别的治疗方法。一种在常规医学实践中使用，另一种在补充医学中使用。本研究的目的是评估短期（6 周）强光治疗（BLT）对伴有限制型神经性厌食症（AN-R）的女性患者抑郁症状的影响。
研究纳入了 24 名年龄在 15-20 岁（平均 17.4±1 岁）之间、被诊断为 AN-R 且伴有抑郁症状≥17 分（21 项汉密尔顿抑郁量表（HDRS））的女孩。所有女孩均接受认知行为疗法。其中，12 名女孩被随机分配接受额外的 6 周 BLT 治疗（10,000 勒克斯，每天 30 分钟）。两组在基线人口统计学和临床参数上无差异。在整个治疗过程中，每周通过 HDRS 评估抑郁情况，通过测量体重指数（BMI）评估身体状况。
接受 BLT 的组的抑郁改善明显更大，5 周和 6 周后组间抑郁强度存在显著差异。6 周后两组 BMI 的增加无差异，但接受 BLT 的患者更早开始增加 BMI。
6 周的治疗可能不足以得出 BLT 疗效的结论，需要进行随访以评估疗效的维持。
获得的结果可能表明 BLT 可能是治疗 AN-R 患者抑郁的一种有效非药物治疗方法。
