Psychological Treatment More Effective than Light Therapy for SAD

Courtesy of the ever-prolific Ken Pope, Ph.D., the American Journal of Psychiatry as scheduled for future publication “Outcomes One and Two Winters Following Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy or Light Therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder.” This interesting study followed patients with SAD for two years, compared standard light therapy treatment with a form of psychological treatment, CBT-SAD. The results interestingly did not find any differences during the first year of follow-up, in other words during the first winter. On the other hand, the study found significant differences in favor of the psychological treatment for the next winter. Patients receiving CBT-SAD at about half the frequency of recurrence of STD symptoms and much less severe symptoms.