Light therapy (treatment for depression)

Thank you for the nice words about me The people that I meet offline say the same thing about me. They are surpriced when they hear that I have periodic depressions because they don't think that I seem ill. I have long periods where my depression is in remission, and in those periods I am able to work, travel, spend time on my hobbies, experiment with new things etc. Yes, I sometimes feel that I was born in the wrong country. I would love to live in a tropical climate instead of a country like my own where the autumn months and the winter months are so cold and dark. Last year I was able to spend 6 weeks in Asia in November and December and it was wonderful.

i had a feeling it was connected to your return because you spent 2 months in the tropics. maybe you can also go to central or south america when it's summer in the southern hemisphere, or even africa.

Yes, I think that it could be worth a try. I am trying to find some information about it online, it is hard to decide which lightbox to buy because there are so many different ones. I live in a country where the the autumn months and the winter months are very cold and dark and quite a lot of people ezperience SAD or other kinds of depressions. I spent 6 weeks in a tropical climate in November and December last year and that makes it is even harder to get back to the cold and dark climate from my own country.

When I read your comment I didn't realize there were so many different types either, so I did a bit of research. I found this link to the Mayo Clinic here in the USA which has many hospitals all over the US. You may have heard of them yourself. There are 2 small pages explaining some of the differences that you should look for. If this doesn't help you at all, you may want to contact your therapist again and ask what kind he/she suggests for you so you don't end up wasting your money...or time. I can well imagine how hard it was coming back from a tropical climate back to the cold and dark. I probably would have stayed there for the winter, lol!

Oops, forgot to put in the link..duh to me. I hope it works. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/seasonal-affective-disorder-treatment/DN00013

Yes, I decided to try it. Yesterday I received my light box in the mail. I didn't have time to try it yet, but I look forward to trying it tomorrow morning. I have to use it daily in order to get a good effect and I plan on using it every morning during the cold and dark winter months. The winter is quite long in my country so many people use the lightboxes from September to March. I definately think that it would help to travel during the winter and visit a place with a tropical climate like I did last year. I would love to do that every year, but unfortunately I don't think that we can afford that.

I think that makes a lot of sense, because the negative thoughts are a big part of the depression. When I get a depression my thoughts are very dark and negative and that is one of the things that keeps the depression alive. I don't think: "Things are bad right now, but they will get better" I usually think: "Things are bad and they will remain that way forever" When I am in the depression it is hard to see a way of it.