Seasonal Affective Disorder - Understanding Its Various Treatments

Posted by Christina Crease

at July 24, 2008

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Seasonal affective disorder can also be cure like Depression. If the condition is not serious then it can be cure by taking some measure on your own which include spending more time outdoors or sitting closer to windows when you are at home or at office. Various other treatments use to cure seasonal effective disorder include light therapy, medications, psychotherapy etc.

Light therapy – Light therapy can be used for the treatment of seasonal effective disorder as it is already proven that increased sunlight improves the symptoms of SAD. Due to the absence of enough facts about this therapy it yet not been approved by Food and Drug Administration. So before start light therapy first consult it with your doctor. Light therapy can be used in place of outdoor light and causes a biochemical change in your brain which lifts your mood and successfully treating the symptoms of SAD.

In this treatment we generally use light therapy boxes which provide very bright light to us. We sit few feet away from the light therapy box so that we are getting exposed to that bright light. This therapy has very few side effects and it is very easy to use.

Psychotherapy – It is yet another therapy used for the treatment of seasonal effective disorder. As it is found that mood and behavior can contribute to the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, psychotherapy can be very helpful in identifying the negative thoughts and change these thoughts before they make you feel worse. This therapy can also be helpful in managing stress and teach you many ways to cope up from this situation.
Medications – Antidepressants and other psychiatric medications are also beneficial in curing the seasonal affective disorder. These medicines generally prescribed if the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder are severe. Various antidepressants which are used in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder include Wellbutrin XL, paroxetine (Paxil), sertraline (Zoloft), fluoxetine (Prozac, Sarafem) and venlafaxine (Effexor) etc.

Doctor prescribed you these antidepressants before the symptoms become worse and may continue this treatment unless these symptoms may go away. The affects of these antidepressants shows their affect after several weeks and may have the few side affects. Like other medication all antidepressants have the risk of side affects so before taking any medicine first consult your doctor.

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