Thursday, January 29, 2009
Studies target winter blues
Hollins professor Randy Flory tests ion and light therapies.
Photos by ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times
Katherine Humphries, a first-year student at Hollins University, sits in a small room that is charged with negative ions. She is participating in a study of seasonal affective disorder conducted by Hollins professor Randy Flory.
Randy Flory sits in front of a light box made to treat seasonal affective disorder. He is trying to assess the effectiveness of light therapy.
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When fall turns to winter, many people notice a change in their mood and behavior. They crave starchy, heavy foods. They oversleep. They isolate themselves and feel depressed.
For more than eight years, psychology professor Randy Flory and his students at Hollins University have conducted studies to figure out why this is and how to treat it.
Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is the psychiatric term given to a form of depression whose onset is triggered by winter's shorter days and longer nights, Flory said.
About 6 percent of people in the United States suffer from SAD, Flory said, referencing a study conducted in the 1980s by the psychiatrist who first studied the disorder, Dr. Norman Rosenthal.
Psychiatrists are still trying to figure out why this is, Flory said, but his own research has shown that a lack of light in wintertime has something to do with it.
Flory has researched the effectiveness of two treatments for SAD, light therapy boxes and ion therapy, through several long-term studies.
Light therapy creates the effect of a bright spring morning by administering a large quantity of fluorescent light, Flory said. In the treatment, patients sit 20 feet from high-voltage lamps or light boxes, which mimic sunlight. A patient must be exposed to this bright light for 30 minutes every morning for the therapy to be effective, Flory said.
In ion therapy, patients use an electronic device that fills the air with negatively charged ions, Flory said. Although psychologists do not know how higher percentages of negative ions in the air help people with SAD, studies have shown that the treatment can be effective, he said.
Although Flory hasn't yet made up his mind about ion therapy, he said he's convinced that light therapy can help people with SAD.
"I've seen major changes when it works," he said. "In our studies, people started feeling better within two days of the treatment. There's no question it's a real phenomenon."
Flory conducted a four-year study on negative ion air therapy and light therapy boxes at Hollins starting in 2000. The study found that 68 percent of the subjects felt significantly better after 12 days of exposure to 10,000 lux of bright light for 30 minutes. Only 45 percent of his subjects responded well to ion therapy, a higher percentage than the two placebo studies. The results have been accepted for publication by the journal Psychiatry Research.
Flory is conducting further studies on ion therapy treatment.
Other professionals in the field are not so sure about the usefulness of light therapy. Dr. Enrique Perez, a psychiatrist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, said the effectiveness is disputed by psychiatrists.
"It really depends on who you talk to," he said.
There is no proof that the treatment alleviates depression, he said, and light boxes are not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
However, Perez said that if his patients wanted try a light box, he would not discourage them. "If it works, then use it," he said.
Chris O'Keefe, a licensed counselor at East Mental Health LLC in Southwest Roanoke, said she tried a light box a couple of years ago after suffering from several bouts of seasonal depression.
"I found I had more energy and was more productive throughout the day. Even getting up and going to work was easier," she said.
O'Keefe said she is not concerned about the lack of proof behind the treatment. "Even if it is a placebo effect, it is doing something for me," she said.
"Winter worsens my depression, and I'm not the only one," O'Keefe said. "People need to recognize they don't have to live that way. There's something better."
