Am J Psychiatry 1993; 150:113-117
Copyright © 1993 by American Psychiatric Association
Dawn simulation treatment of winter depression: a controlled study
DH Avery, MA Bolte, SR Dager, LG Wilson, M Weyer, GB Cox and DL Dunner
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle.
OBJECTIVE: This study sought to determine whether dawn simulation was
superior to a shorter dimmer "placebo" dawn signal in treating winter
depression. METHOD: In a randomized, parallel design, 22 patients with
winter depression were treated with either 1 week of a 2-hour dawn
simulation peaking at 250 lux or 1 week of a 30-minute dawn simulation
peaking at 0.2 lux. The subjects were told that they would receive either a
"gradual" dawn or a "rapid" dawn reaching an intensity that would be dimmer
than standard bright light treatment. At the end of both the baseline week
and the treatment week, subjects were assessed in a blind manner with the
Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Analysis of covariance was used to
compare the two dawn treatments. RESULTS: The 2-hour, 250-lux dawn
simulation resulted in Hamilton depression scale scores that were
significantly lower than scores after the 30-minute, 0.2-lux dawn
simulation. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that dawn simulation is an
effective treatment for winter depression.
