International Journal of Clinical Research

Illuminated therapy, or phototherapy, achieves specific therapeutic purposes by periodically exposing it to sunlight or artificial light of a certain intensity and wavelength over a certain period of time. In 1980, clinical studies first reported that phototherapy could be effective in treating depression, but the specific mechanisms remain unclear. Studies have also shown that artificial light signals received on the retina can also significantly affect various related functional neural circuit structures and certain neuroinformation transmitters in human brain tissues, which may be the mechanism of the antidepressant and analgesic effects of phototherapy. The antidepressant and analgesic effect of phototherapy instrument is influenced by a combination of many influencing factors, and different doses of photoprogrammer have completely different effects. This paper studies the clinical efficacy of light therapy in depression and summarizes the relevant neurobiological mechanisms of light therapy for depression.

Light therapy; depression treatment; clinical