SAD & Kids

Treatment with bright light can help children with the wintertime depression known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD), reports a study in the June issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

In a study of thirteen children and teens with SAD, depression scores dropped significantly during light therapy, compared to no change during inactive placebo treatment. The research was led by Dr. Susan E. Swedo, and a team of child and adolescent psychiatrists with the National Institute of Mental Health.

In people with SAD, depression occurs only during the winter months, disappearing completely during the spring and summer. Most previous studies of SAD have focused on adults. However, recent research suggests that SAD may affect three to four percent of school-age children.

Light therapy consisted of two parts. During "dawn simulation" the children were exposed to low-intensity light for two hours each morning, starting at 6:30 a.m. They also received bright light therapy, in which they were exposed to high-intensity light for one hour per day in the afternoon or early evening.

Light was generated by a piece of equipment called a light box. The children sat about eighteen inches from the light box for the specified time while playing, reading, or watching TV. After one week of light therapy the children switched over to placebo treatment for a week, and vice versa.

Scores on standard tests of depression were significantly lower when children were on light therapy, compared to no change with placebo treatment. Light therapy reduced scores for both typical and atypical depression. Eighty percent of the children reported feeling better while on light therapy. One teenage girl said, "It was like I was my old self again —like I am in the summer."

The parents' assessments agreed, and all of the children continued using light therapy after the end of the study.

Bright light therapy has been shown to relieve SAD in adults. The new study is one of the first to evaluate the use of light therapy in children with SAD.

The often dramatic results achieved in this small study suggest the need for further research into light therapy for children with wintertime depression.