Light Therapy Widely Used for Seasonal Affective Disorder Provides Dramatic Benefits for Non-Seasonally Depressed: Clinical Study

In a controlled study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, light therapy used for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) dramatically hastened and improved the reponse of major non-seasonally depressed patients to Celexa, a popular SSRI antidepressant. The study's authors concluded that the finding is "likely to change common clinical practice" for treating depression. Patients who used an advanced, low-intensity, form of light therapy responded almost immediately to the medication, instead of after the usual two-to-four week delay common with antidepressant treatment. The researchers' use of Sunnex Biotechnologies' low-intensity light therapy is consistent with studies indicating that side effects from bright light therapy, such as discomfort and potential eye damage, may be avoided through the use of low-intensity light from a select portion of the visible spectrum.

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA December 2 2003--Light therapy is normally used for winter depression. But in a pioneering research study published in the June 2003 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, a Canadian-developed light therapy technology dramatically reduced the normal delay in the response time of non-seasonally depressed patients to Celexa, a popular Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant medication.

The study's findings are "likely to change common clinical practice" for treating major depression if further confirmed, stated lead researcher Dr. Francesco Benedetti at the fall meeting of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. As the research team concluded, properly timed low-intensity light therapy provides a "new effective augmenting strategy" for treating depression with SSRIs.

The controlled study conducted in Milan, Italy examined the effects of pairing a low-intensity light therapy device developed by Sunnex Biotechnologies with the Celexa. Dr. Benedetti's team found that when patients were treated with Sunnex Biotechnologies' low-intensity light therapy along with Celexa, they responded to the medication within only three days of initiating treatment. This speed of response marked a substantial improvement over the two-to-four weeks typically required for people to respond to SSRI antidepressants.

SSRIs are the most popular class of antidepressant medication in North America. But a major problem with SSRIs is the long time lag before they begin to work. This research team found that "synergistic effects of light and drugs" allow patients to recover from depression faster than with SSRI medication alone.

Light therapy not only helped the Celexa kick in faster, but also to obtain better results in patients throughout the four-week study. There was overall "better mood improvement in (Sunnex) light-treated patients" with a treatment strategy that was "devoid of side effects," according to the published paper. Over half of the patients treated with Celexa and Sunnex light therapy fully recovered from their depression after two weeks, and more than three-quarters were no longer ill by the end of the four-week study. In contrast, fewer than half of the patients treated with Celexa and a placebo recovered even after four weeks.

In 1995, Sunnex Biotechnologies patented its low-intensity Lo-LIGHT therapy lamp to provide light therapy that eliminates common side effects accompanying bright light therapy, including discomfort and the risk of retinal damage. Through careful selection of wavelengths, the Sunnex technology restricts the intensity of light therapy to a level of light normally found indoors.