Can Light Therapy Treat Adult ADHD?
ByA new research study was just released which tested light therapy on adults with ADHD. It was done at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, and is the first study to examine light therapy as an add on treatment for adult ADHD.
Light therapy involves using a bright light, developed for medical use. It is a full-spectrum fluorescent light box that filters out
ultraviolet wavelengths. In this study, the participants used the bright light for 30 minutes each morning.
Why even consider light therapy for adult ADHD?
Light therapy is a proven treatment for SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). SAD refers to individuals who have seasonal depression – generally in the fall and winter when the days are shorter and they are exposed to less sunlight.
While adults with ADHD tend to have higher rates of depression, many of them also have a delayed sleep/activity rhythm. This study looked at whether light therapy could help with their depression symptoms and even their ADHD symptoms.
This study showed that in ADHD adults treated with light therapy:
- 55% had less depression symptoms
- approximately 28% of had a full or partial improvement in
attention deficit symptoms, measured with both questionnaires and actual
laboratory-based tasks
Which ADHD symptoms improved?
The light therapy helped these core symptoms of ADHD:
- inattention
- difficulty sustaining effort
- impulsive responding to stimuli
- hypo-arousal/fatigue
Strikingly, the strongest predictor of improvement in ADHD symptoms from light therapy came from a change in circadian activity rhythms rather than decreasing
the symptoms of SAD that are often experienced by adults with ADHD.
Does this mean that if you have adult ADHD that you should start light therapy this fall or winter?
Not necessarily. While this is a promising and fascinating study, more research is needed.
This study does suggest that if you have seasonal depression with adult ADHD, you may be the perfect candidate for light therapy this winter. Talk to your doctor and review your options.
To read more details of the study, visit here.
Consider printing this article and taking it with you to the doctor to discuss.
Kenny,
Great article. In the hustle of running a practice, I hadnt given thought or consideration to light therapy (still taking off here in australia).
Thanks for the insight,
Andrew
Nice , this indeed encouraging news. My cousin has ADHD but he’s still a kit so this option is till no available for him.
But the good news is that when he hits the age where this treatment can apply to him the technology will be more fine tuned and perfected so this will be very beneficial to him.
Light therapy may have important clinical benefits beyond the treatment of conditions such as SAD but further studies are needed in this complex and still evolving area of research.
The technique is becoming more and more popular and the results are encouraging but there really is a need to measure the possible side effects of this type of therapy as well.
I suffer from ADD and SAD. I find that my ADD gets worse when I feel depressed or am very tired (both of which happens when I get the winter blues). As I am typing my light therapy box is turned on right behind my laptop. It doesnt just make me feel less sad during winter, but I find that in general I am more productive and focused while this device is on during the winter season. I bought mine from http://www.sadlightshop.com by the way. I recommed the philips brand because they have a cool timer feature that calculates treatment time based on your distance to the light. Although I found your article quite interesting I am not sure whether its the ADD thats benefiting from light therapy directly. In my opinion it is in fact the SAD that is being treated that as a result leads to less ADD problems.