The Effects of Light Therapy on Circadian Rhythms, Sleep, and Mood in Postpartum Depression

Not Applicable

Completed

Brief Summary: The proposed study aims to establish the feasibility of light therapy for postpartum depression delivered via Re-Timer, demonstrate its preliminary efficacy, and illuminate relationships between circadian shifts and mood changes using a novel, home-based circadian biomarker assessment paradigm (salivary dim light melatonin onset; DLMO).

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Within 6 months postpartum
Meet DSM-V diagnostic criteria for MDD
Score ≥ 20 on the Structured Interview Guide for the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-Seasonal Affective Disorder version (SIGH-SAD).

Exclusion Criteria

current diagnosis of bipolar disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia or psychosis, dissociative disorders, eating disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, somatic symptom and related disorders, substance use disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia per DSM-V
past history of mania/hypomania,
chronic medical conditions associated with depression (e.g., thyroid conditions)
ocular or retinal pathology
history of seizures or epilepsy
color blindness
Lupus
currently taking an antibiotic, medication that contains hydrochlorothiazide, or isotretinoin (Accutane).

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Light Therapy	Light therapy	Participants will use commercially-available light therapy glasses (Re-Timer) daily for 60 minutes for five weeks.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change From Baseline Time of Dim Light Melatonin Onset (DLMO) at 5 Weeks	After five weeks of light therapy	Onset of melatonin in dim light conditions as measured in saliva (also called DLMO) Time of DLMO is measured in clock time, so a positive number in change would represent a later onset of melatonin and a negative number represents an earlier onset of melatonin
Change From Baseline Score of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-Seasonal Affective Version (SIGH-SAD) at 5 Weeks	After five weeks of light therapy	Clinician-rated depression symptom severity measure; Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-Seasonal Affective Version (SIGH-SAD) (29 item version) measures depressive symptoms on a continuous scale. Higher scores indicate worse outcomes. Scores can range from 0 -73, where 0 means no depression, and 73 is the greatest possible depression. Generally scores of 20 or higher represent clinical depression
Change From Baseline Score of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 5 Weeks	After five weeks of light therapy	Self-report of depression symptoms. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression scale is scored from 0 to 30 where 0 is no depression and 30 is most severe depression.