Speed:
Wake Therapy is the most rapid antidepressant treatment in current clinical use. [1]

Compared to standard antidepressant treatments that usually require between 2 to 8 weeks to show effects, Wake Therapy produces improvement within hours.

While not as ultra-fast as Wake Therapy, the therapeutic response to light treatment is often evident after several days and is typically complete after one to three weeks. [2, 3, 4]

Effectiveness:

Wake Therapy
In over 150 studies, treating almost 4000 patients over the last 40 years, research has found an acute reduction in depression in 50 to 60% of patients. [5, 6]

Broadly active in most depressive subtypes including unipolar, bipolar, and melancholic forms.

Bright Light Therapy
Recognized by the American Psychiatric Association as a first-line treatment for Seasonal Affective Disorder. [7, 8]

Comparable effectiveness to antidepressants in non-seasonal depression. [9]

Sustained Response:
When used with one of several other chronotherapeutic interventions and/or psychiatric medications, the initial response to Wake Therapy becomes cemented, generating a sustained remission that can last for months. [10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21]

Safety:
As a biological treatment, chronotherapy shares the same psychiatric risks as any other antidepressant treatment. [22]

As a non-pharmacologic therapy, it avoids the drug side-effects associated with medications.

Non-Pharmacologic Treatment:
Though chronotherapy is often used with antidepressant and/or mood-stabilizing medications, it can be used on its own, affording the option of a fully non-pharmacologic treatment.

Time-Specific Activity:
The therapeutic action of chronotherapeutic treatment depends on its time of administration. Time-sensitive treatments and chronotherapeutic principles are increasingly being used in cardiology, oncology and sleep medicine. [23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28]

References