Does UV Light Therapy Work For Long Term Depression

Depression as a disorder is getting more and more attention these days with more people being diagnosed with different levels of depression. For instance Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is only now being looked into seriously as until now it was easy to wrongly diagnose this problem as Bipolar disorder ssri and leave it at that.

Seasonal Affectation Disorder

Another case in point is Seasonal Affectation Disorder or SAD. Although psychiatrists have known for a long time that this is actually a disorder, most people tended to dismiss it as winter blues and ignore it. The result was that they will suffer through this problem for years and only when it worsens into full blown depression will they seek help and how is a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor thought to work. With more awareness, it is possible to treat people much earlier and with less invasive techniques too. Also with more research going on into these disorders, newer and better depression medication is becoming available in the market.

UV Light Therapy Effects

The best example that can be given for this is SAD. Doctors have always known that SAD is a treatable illness and even though this method is not part of any scientific literature, feel that UV light therapy is the best form of medication. It has long been thought that sunlight plays an important part in our lives and that if the amount of sunlight that we receive falls below a certain threshold we suffer for it. This is not only to do with vitamin D that is synthesized in sunlight because even when the vitamin is given as a supplement it does not lower symptoms of SAD.

Now researchers are working to find out if UV light therapy effects will work on people with other kinds of depression too. One of the first things to note about UV light therapy information is that it does not work like a natural antidepressant. Most natural antidepressant supplements tend to give a serotonin boost. Although we do not know how exactly this helps, we do know that it does. UV light therapy effects however are a little different. Not much UV light therapy information is available and researchers really don’t know if it is a mismatch in the circadian rhythm that causes the depression or if it is something else.

UV Light Therapy Information

But recent UV light therapy information seems to suggest that it works on other forms of depression too. In patients suffering from long term depression, UV light therapy effects are noticeable in that after just two or three weeks, there is a perceptible improvement in the mood.
As of not this research is confined to older people simply because only they have the time for UV light therapy. But with more UV light therapy information being collected hopefully it will be found that it works for all forms of depression.
Although it is early yet, all preliminary information seems to suggest that UV light therapy effects are both effective as well as long lasting. As of now there are no other natural antidepressant medication that can cure depression completely and if UV light therapy can, it is all to the good.