Dark therapy, Light, Circadian rhythms, and Psychiatry - Tone Elise G. Henriksen

Background
Since Antique, light and darkness have been recognized as environmental determinants for mental health. The last decades, light and dark therapies for affective disorders have seen an upswing. The basic research and clinical use grow faster than the clinical research, but light interventions are increasingly recognized in clinical guidelines and recommendations.

Objective
In this talk, the audience will be given an overview of the affective chronotherapeutics, with a primary focus on light and dark therapies.

Methods
The current knowledge on effects and possible mechanistic pathways will be presented, along with the practical clinical utility in the acute psychiatry setting.

Results
Light therapy is effective for depression and dark therapy shows consistent deactivating and sleep-promoting effects in clinical samples. Both methods can be administered as integrated in adapted hospital light environments. In the clinic, light and dark therapies are most often used as adjunctive to pharmacological treatments but can also be used in monotherapy and self-administered as preventive interventions.

Conclusion
The broader application of adjunctive light and dark therapies has potential to increase the effectiveness of the treatment for sleep problems and affective disorders and is a much-needed advance in psychiatry. Chronotherapies bridge the gap between basic scientific insights into light exposure and circadian rhythms, and everyday clinical practice.

Reference 1: Henriksen TEG et al. PMID 31967375

Reference 2: Gottlieb JG et al. PMID 31967375.