- Is there relation between the Light and the depression or bulimia?
• Answer:The researchers examined in double-blind study the effects of light therapy on food intake and emtotional symptoms of bulimia nervosa (BN) patients.
• Eighteen women who met diagnostic criteria for bulimia were randomly assigned to receive either 2500 lux of bright light (experimental condition) or < 500 lux of dim light (placebo condition) daily in the early evening for a 1-week period.
• A series of relevant questionnaires (The Structured Interview Guide for the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-Seasonal Affective
Disorder Version (SIGH-SAD), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Bulimic Symptoms Checklist) were administered to the subjects before light exposure, after 1 week of light exposure, and after 7 days of withdrawal of light exposure.
• Throughout the study, the Profile of Mood States and the Daily Binge Record were completed daily.
• Compared with subjects in the dim light condition, subjects in the bright light condition showed a significant improvement in depressed mood during light exposure.
• There was a return to pretreatment levels of depression after removal of the light exposure treatment.
• There were no changes in depression in the placebo group. However, light therapy had no effect on the frequency, size, or content of binge-eating episodes.
Light therapy in bulimia nervosa: a double-blind,
placebo-controlled study. Author: Blouin AG; Blouin JH; Iversen H;
Carter J; Goldstein C; Goldfield G; Perez E Source: Psychiatry Res,
60(1):1-9 1996 Feb 28