Light therapy may help elevate mood in people with a concussion

The study found that the people who received the blue light therapy had lower scores on a test of depression, the Beck Depression Inventory, than the people who received the placebo light therapy. Raw depression scores showed a significant decline in only the blue group. The people in the blue light group improved by 22% on the test of depression, compared to a 4% worsening in the mood for the people in the placebo group.

The improvement in depression scores among the people in the blue light group was also linked to improvements in other concussion symptoms such as sleep disturbance, fatigue, concentration, restlessness, and irritability, while there was no such relationship for the people in the placebo group.

"These results reinforce that blue light therapy may be an effective, non-drug treatment for concussion and that improvements in depression may result in improvement in both mental and physical concussion symptoms, and thus quality of life," said Killgore.

The main limitations of the study were relatively small sample size and that not every participant had clinical depression, which is a more severe form of depression, so the study may not represent all people with mild traumatic brain injury.

Killgore said, "Limitations notwithstanding, the findings give a promising treatment approach to those suffering from mood disturbances following a concussion."

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American Academy of Neurology