When Norman Rosenthal moved from Johannesburg to New York City for a psychiatry residency, he found the winters dark and gloomy. It wasn’t until a few years later that he realized the winters might be more than just gloomy. Working in a psychobiology lab in the early ’80s, he tried an observational experiment on an engineer who he knew had bipolar disorder and depression and had had mood swings from mania into sadness for many years. The engineer had kept a log of the changes in his notebooks; it was clear he was typically depressed as the days started to get shorter after the solstice, and then into fall and winter. Rosenthal and his colleagues wondered if light might be able to help, particularly with a stronger exposure than what he’d been getting in office buildings. “We took a rectangular ceiling fixture that had fluorescent lamps in it and rigged it up to stand horizontally,” says Rosenthal. It was a highly primitive light box. Being able to get up close to the source did the trick. With the help of bright lights, the engineer came out of his winter depression, Rosenthal recalls: “It was like watching a law of nature unfolding.”
from Human Interest - Slate Magazine
Yes, You Should Get a SAD Lamp This Winter
Reviewed by streakoggi
on
October 26, 2019
Rating:
Reviewed by streakoggi
on
October 26, 2019
Rating:
