What is the current state of SAD treatment according to research?

Question

Seasonal Affective disorder SAD affects many people moods during seasons when the sun is less prevalent, myself no included. What is the current state of SAD treatment options according to published research?

Answer 1

Coming from the North, I'm most familiar with light treatments, where patients get on a regular schedule exposing themselves to a bright light every day. Folklore in the North is that it needs to have high reds and blues like the spectrum of the sun; I haven't read the papers in detail, so I don't know if that's true, but light therapy has been effective in small trials:

Preliminary studies in 11 patients suggest that extending the photoperiod with bright artificial light has an antidepressant effect.

Both morning and evening light therapy improved depressive symptoms in patients (of 30) with SAD independent of their circadian phase or sleep timing.

Several patients (of 13) were able to maintain the antidepressant response throughout the winter months by continuing daily light treatments.