What is the treatment for seasonal affective disorder?
Regular exposure to light that is bright, particularly fluorescent light, significantly improves depression in people with seasonal affective disorder that presents during the fall and winter. The light treatment is used daily in the morning and evening for best results. Temporarily changing locations to a climate that is characterized by bright light (such as the Caribbean) can achieve similar results. Light treatment has also been called phototherapy. Phototherapy is commercially available in the form of light boxes, which are used for approximately 30 minutes daily. The light required must be of sufficient brightness, approximately 25 times as bright as a normal living room light. Contrary to prior theories, the light does not need to be actual daylight from the sun. It seems that it is quantity, not necessarily quality of light, that matters in the light treatment of seasonal affective disorder. The most common possible side effects associated with phototherapy include irritability
