[Catecholamine changes in patients with depression under the action of high-intensity light].

Preponderance in depression of the melancholy affect was characterized by a drop in the level of norepinephrine (NE) and rise in epinephrine (E). Exposure to light was associated with fall in E, with no change recordable in NE. In anxious depression, following light therapy, high levels of excretion of both catecholamines tended to return to normal. Ligh was found to cause opposite changes in the quantitative measures depending upon the initial value for the E:NE ratio (above or below control).