The effect of bright light therapy on irritability in bipolar depression: a single-blind randomised control trial

Abstract

Objective

The symptom-complex irritability, widely used in descriptions of bipolar patients’ manic and mixed states, also represents a common feature in depressive phases. Irritability negatively affects the clinical course of depression, leading to a higher risk of treatment non-adherence, violence, and suicide attempts. Nevertheless, proportional attention from the scientific literature seems to be scarce. We conducted the first randomised controlled trial with the aim of evaluating BLT as a possible therapeutic strategy for irritability in bipolar depression.

Methods

180 inpatients were randomly assigned to: Group A exposed to bright light therapy (BLT) daily, or Group B treated with pharmacotherapy only. A qualitative assessment of irritability was performed after a 4-week program.

Results

Group A showed about one-third fewer cases of irritability compared to Group B, this reduction was not related to the overall remission of depressive symptoms.

Conclusions

The present study supports the usefulness of BLT in irritability in bipolar depression.

KEYPOINTS

• Irritability is an underestimated feature of bipolar depression.

• Irritability is related to higher suicide risk and lower quality of life.

• Bright light therapy is an effective strategy to reduce irritability in bipolar depression.

Keywords:

• Irritability
• bipolar disorder
• bipolar depression
• bright light therapy
• mood disorders
• chronotherapy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.