Bright Light: An Adjunct Treatment for Combat Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

VA Office of Research and Development

Status: Completed

Conditions: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Treatments: Other: Bright Light Exposure; Other: Negative Ion Generator

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT00701064

MHBA-008-08S

Details and patient eligibility

About

The investigators are testing novel treatments for combat PTSD: bright light exposure and negation ion exposure.

Full description

Seventy Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)/Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD) will be randomly assigned to one of two 4-week treatments (45 min/day): (1) bright light exposure or (2) a negative ion generator. Clinical assessments ,as well as self-reported measures of PTSD, anxiety, depression, and sleep will be assessed

Enrollment: 71 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 60 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• receiving other treatment or stopped other treatment prior to study

Exclusion criteria

• bipolar disorder
• psychosis
• alcohol/drug abuse

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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71 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

Bright Light Exposure

Experimental group

Description:

Bright Light (30 min/day)

Treatment:

Other: Bright Light Exposure

Negative Ion Generator

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Negative Ion Generator (30 min/day)

Treatment:

Other: Negative Ion Generator