Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the Treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

June 24, 2014 updated by: Kelly Rohan, Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine

Cognitive Behavioral Approaches to Seasonal Depression

This study will assess the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in treating seasonal affective disorder (SAD), commonly called the "winter blues."

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

SAD is a condition in which people experience depression as a result of seasonal variations in sunlight. Although light therapy is a common treatment for SAD, a large proportion of people with SAD are resistant to this treatment. CBT is effective for nonseasonal depressive disorders, but its use for SAD has not been thoroughly explored. This study will determine whether CBT, alone and combined with light therapy, is as effective as light therapy alone in reducing SAD symptoms.

Participants in this study will be randomly assigned to light therapy, CBT, a combination of light therapy and CBT, or a control group (no therapy) for 6 weeks. CBT will be conducted twice a week; light therapy will be conducted twice a day. Assessments will be made before, during, and after the study treatment. Depression scales, questionnaires, and behavioral tasks will be used to assess the depressive symptoms of participants. A 6-month and 1-year follow-up visit will also be conducted. During the follow-up visits, participants will be interviewed and will complete a questionnaire and a survey.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

61

Phase

  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Maryland
      • Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20814-4799
        • Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS)

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosis of seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
  • Willing and able to participate in the study procedures

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Major psychological diagnoses other than SAD
  • Current psychological or psychiatric treatment

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: 1 Light therapy
Behavioral: Light Therapy
Light therapy will involve exposure to bright light twice a day.
Experimental: 2 Cognitive behavioral therapy
Behavioral: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
CBT attempts to change maladaptive thoughts and beliefs, and will be conducted twice a week.
Experimental: 3 Light therapy plus cognitive behavioral therapy
Behavioral: Light Therapy
Light therapy will involve exposure to bright light twice a day.
Behavioral: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
CBT attempts to change maladaptive thoughts and beliefs, and will be conducted twice a week.
No Intervention: 4 Control

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Scores on the Structured Interview Guide for the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-Seasonal Affective Disorder Version
Time Frame: Post-treatment
The Structured Interview Guide for the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-Seasonal Affective Disorder Version (SIGH-SAD) measures depressive symptoms on a continuous scale. Higher scores indicate worse outcome. Range of scores is 0 to 73. Generally, a score of 20 or higher is the cutoff for clinical depression.
Post-treatment
Remission Status on Structured Interview Guide for the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-Seasonal Affective Disorder Version (SIGH-SAD)
Time Frame: Post-treatment
Dichotomous Remission Status (remitted or not) at post-treatment
Post-treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Kelly J. Rohan, PhD, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

November 1, 2002

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 1, 2004

Study Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2005

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 16, 2004

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 16, 2004

First Posted (Estimate)

January 19, 2004

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 25, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 24, 2014

Last Verified

June 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R03MH065946 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • DSIR AT-AS

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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