Winkler-Pjrek Edda, Spies Marie, Baldinger-Melich Pia, Perkmann Lisa, Kasper Siegfried, Winkler Dietmar
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Neuropsychobiology. 2016;74(4):182-187. doi: 10.1159/000477094. Epub 2017 Jun 22.
Light therapy (LT) is a non-pharmacological biological treatment that has been used in psychiatry since the 1980s. Previous research has investigated the usage of LT in hospitals. The aim of this study was to examine the pattern of use of LT by office-based physicians.
A questionnaire was sent by mail to 400 randomly selected doctors in Austria. We made sure that the sample was equally representative of general practitioners (GPs) and psychiatrists, public health service doctors and private doctors, physicians in cities and in the country as well as male and female doctors. Non-responders were asked by phone and e-mail to answer the questionnaire. We achieved a response rate of 27.7%.
LT was generally recommended by 67.3% of all physicians (91.6% of the psychiatrists but only 46.6% of the GPs). The recommended location of treatment was patients' homes in 90%. Physicians were asked whether they considered LT to be an appropriate treatment for various disorders. There were affirmative answers from: 94.2% for seasonal affective disorder (SAD), 93.3% for sub-syndromal SAD, 60.6% for non-seasonal recurrent major depressive disorder, 35.6% for jet lag syndrome, 35.6% for chronobiological problems with shift work, 22.1% for insomnia, 13.5% for premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and 10.6% for behavioural problems with Alzheimer's disease.
Our results indicate that LT is regularly recommended by office-based physicians, especially psychiatrists. However, there is potential for greater application of LT in indications other than depressive disorder. The results found here are comparable to previous findings in psychiatric hospitals.
光疗法（LT）是一种非药物生物治疗方法，自20世纪80年代以来一直在精神病学中使用。先前的研究调查了医院中光疗法的使用情况。本研究的目的是调查门诊医生使用光疗法的模式。
通过邮件向奥地利随机抽取的400名医生发送问卷。我们确保样本在全科医生（GP）和精神科医生、公共卫生服务医生和私人医生、城市和农村的医生以及男医生和女医生中具有同等代表性。通过电话和电子邮件要求未回复者回答问卷。我们的回复率为27.7%。
所有医生中有67.3%普遍推荐光疗法（精神科医生中为91.6%，但全科医生中仅为46.6%）。90%的推荐治疗地点是患者家中。询问医生他们是否认为光疗法适用于各种疾病。对于以下疾病有肯定回答：季节性情感障碍（SAD）为94.2%，亚综合征性SAD为93.3%，非季节性复发性重度抑郁症为60.6%，时差综合征为35.6%，轮班工作的生物钟问题为35.6%，失眠为22.1%，经前烦躁障碍为13.5%，阿尔茨海默病的行为问题为10.6%。
我们的结果表明，门诊医生，尤其是精神科医生经常推荐光疗法。然而，光疗法在抑郁症以外的适应症中有更大的应用潜力。这里发现的结果与精神病医院先前的发现相当。
