Posted by RedSoxFan79 on December 6, 2005, at 15:22:08
A new light triple treatment for nonseasonal depression has recently been tested. Ironically, this new light treatment was developed by Dr. Neumeister working under Dr. Kasper at the University of Vienna--the same place where Sigmund Freud trained so many years ago. The Vienna psychiatrists treated patients in the hospital with serious nonseasonal depressions who were being treated with antidepressant drugs but had not yet responded. At the start, the doctors in Vienna awakened these patients in the middle of the first night and kept them awake for the rest of that night, while starting bright light treatment and also continuing with antidepressant drug treatment. About 70% of these patients felt dramatically better on the day after they had been awakened early, and they continued to feel better. About 35% of their depressive symptoms were relieved immediately. It had been previously known in Europe that such awakenings often relieved depression on the day of the early wakening, but the patients usually had relapsed almost completely the next day. Because of this relapse, few doctors in America thought that wake therapy was really very useful. If adding bright light can prevent the relapse, we have a new way to relieve the symptoms of severe depression in one day. There is nothing like it. This excellent response to bright light combined with wake therapy and antidepressants has now been reproduced by other studies at European hospitals. Our group has also reproduced this effect in a small study of outpatients, who awakened themselves at 2 AM in their own homes. Unfortunately, the controlled studies of the triple therapy have not yet extended beyond 2 weeks of bright light
poster:RedSoxFan79
thread:586138
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20051025/msgs/586138.html