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Seasonal Affective Disorder, Melatonin and Light

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The Pineal Gland and Its Hormones

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((NSSA,volume 277))

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Abstract

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is characterized by changes of circadian and seasonal rhythms. The overall aim is to elucidate the mechanisms mediating the clinical effect of light treatment and study the covariation between biochemical rhythm markers, specially melatonin, and clinical outcome of light treatment. Light treatment has been given for 10 consecutive days and the patients treated with light 06–08 h in the morning or 18–20 h in the evening. Some subgroups of patients may be treatment responders and other patients non-responders to light therapy. Identifying clinical characteristics and biological markers for such subgroups is helpful in the choice of type of antidepressent treatment in clinical practice. In an Icelandic report the relationship between SAD and geographic latitude seemed more complex than previously thought and SAD may also be influenced by genetic adaptation (Magnusson and Axelsson, 1993).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Karolinska Institute, Institution of Clinical Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, St. Göran’s Hospital, S-112 81, Stockholm, Sweden

    Lennart Wetterberg

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  1. Lennart Wetterberg
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Franco Fraschini  & Bojidar Stankov  & 

  2. University of Texas, San Antonio, Texas, USA

    Russel J. Reiter

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© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Wetterberg, L. (1995). Seasonal Affective Disorder, Melatonin and Light. In: Fraschini, F., Reiter, R.J., Stankov, B. (eds) The Pineal Gland and Its Hormones. NATO ASI Series, vol 277. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1911-9_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1911-9_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5781-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-1911-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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