A Clinician's Guide to Using Light Therapy

by Raymond W. Lam, Edwin M. Tam

Overview

Light therapy is an effective, evidence-based, non-pharmacological treatment for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and other depressive and circadian sleep conditions. This step-by-step guide helps busy mental health clinicians and other health professionals to better diagnose SAD and incorporate light therapy into their everyday clinical practice. The authors summarize the diagnostic process, describe a simplified method for light therapy and provide practical information on how to evaluate and obtain light devices. Invaluable clinician resources such as educational handouts, lists of frequently asked questions, instruction sheets, rating scales and suggestions for additional sources of information are also included. Case studies are used throughout to illustrate the processes and techniques in their clinical context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521697682
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/10/2009
Pages:	172
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Raymond W. Lam is Professor and Head of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program in the Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, and Director of the Mood Disorders Centre of Excellence at UBC Hospital, Vancouver, Canada.

Edwin M. Tam is Clinical Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, and UBC Hospital, Vancouver, Canada.

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Seasonal Affective Disorder: diagnostic issues; 2. Light treatment; 3. Light devices; 4. Other treatments: alone and combined with light; 5. Effectiveness and mechanism of action; 6. Light treatment for other conditions; 7. Clinician resources.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Michael Easton, MD (Rush University Medical Center)
Description: Despite the simplicity and effectiveness of light therapy, it is not widely used. This clinical review of the use of this therapy for patients with a variety of psychiatric disorders aims to increase clinicians' understanding of the utility of this treatment.
Purpose: The book is intended as a guide for healthcare professionals and clinicians to better understand and incorporate bright light therapy into their practices.
Audience: The audience includes any clinician, healthcare professional, student, or lay person interested in understanding the clinical use of bright light therapy in psychiatric disorders.
Features: This book describes and defines the conditions for which bright lights can be helpful, such as seasonal affective disorder, nonseasonal depression, bipolar disorder and circadian sleep-wake disorders. It describes the nuts and bolts of how to use bright lights and examines the variety of devices that are available on the market. The book goes on to discuss the evidence regarding its effectiveness and the theorized mechanism of actions of bright light treatment in various disorders. It additionally provides a number of resources for evaluating, diagnosing, and monitoring treatment outcome.
Assessment: As a useful primer on the use of bright light therapy, this book focuses on the clinical diagnosis and use of bright lights in the treatment of patients with a variety of psychiatric disorders, but it also discusses the related research regarding efficacy and the theoretical understanding of the mechanism of actions to a degree adequate for general medical and nonmedical clinicians. It is meant to serve as a clinical guide and not a reference.

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