What are the recommendations (and research) for when to start/stop using light therapy for seasonal affect?
Am being so obnoxious to answer here. Have read a lot on it lately. And have got some experience too by now.
Begin the moment you notice the darkening of the days starts affecting you.
Then start with two weeks of light therapy. Make sure to do that before 9 am, to not mess up your day and night rhythm. After two weeks you stop for a while and notice what happens.
For some just a few days without light therapy leads already to a major setback. Others benefit for months from those two weeks of treatment. It is a matter of trying, to find out what your dosage should be. There are people who have to use it daily through the autumn and winter.
On average people use it two weeks, then stop till they notice they need it again. So the time to stop comes naturally for them.
If you use anti-depressants, make sure someone else also keeps an eye on you. A manic episode can be triggered by the light in rare occasions. And sometimes the dosage of anti-depressants has to be lowered because of the light therapy.
The triggering into a manic episode hardly ever happens with people who do not use anti-depressants. (Unless they are already prone to manic episodes)
For the rest, what I myself experience from light therapy is pleasant. What I see happening in kid with light is as close to a miracle as can be.
Do make sure to buy a good lamp, if you want to try. The light has to be equivalent to 10,000 lux. Those lamps come in quite bulky but also in really small. Here we have the litebook edge. It is hardly bigger than a cheap cellphone.
