Need help getting through the winter? This week’s NY Times article says that Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is effective for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) with or without light therapy, and that CBT is actually better than light therapy in preventing relapse among SAD sufferers.
The NY Times article refers to Dr. Kelly Rohan’s initial pilot study of 23 individuals with SAD. Dr. Rohan conducted a larger randomized controlled trial of 61 patients with SAD in 2005, and again found CBT to be effective in SAD treatment and relapse prevention. This later study is described in Science Daily, although the results have not yet been published. You can also read an interview with Dr. Rohan, in which she discusses her research on CBT for SAD.