Patients’ Experience of Winter Depression and Light Room Treatment

Table 1

Overview of the informants’ background characteristics: sex, civil status, employment, sick leave, medication, previous number of years with winter depression, previous light therapy, preventative treatment or not, and scores on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, self-rating version (MADRS-S) before treatment, at posttreatment, and at two weeks after treatment ().

Age (y)	Sex	Civil status^1	Employment^2 (%)	Sick leave^3 (%)	Antidepressants^4 (Yes/No)	Other current medications^5 (Nb)	Previous winter depression^6 (y)	Previous light therapy^7 (y)	Preventative treatment^8 (Yes/No)	Pretreatment MADRS-S^8 (total)	Posttreatment MADRS-S^8 (total)	2 weeks after treatment MADRS-S^8 (total)
62	Male	Live apart	100	0	No	0	5-6	2	Yes	0	0	3
64	Female	Live apart	Retired	0	Yes	9	20–30	0	No	24	23	3
24	Male	Married	100	0	No	0	6	0	Yes	10	9	x^9
60	Female	Married	No	75	Yes	2	8–10	0	No	25	18	3
48	Male	Married	Student	0	Yes	3	29	4	No	15	3	1
28	Female	Married	100	0	No	0	14	0	No	12	4	9
65	Female	Single	Retired	0	No	2	26	0	No	30	0	10
58	Male	Single	Retired	0	Yes	2	24	0	No	30	10	8
41	Female	Married	100	0	No	0	20	5	No	22	7	1
41	Male	Married	100	0	Yes	1	2	0	No	23	8	1
47	Male	Single	Job-seeker	0	Yes	0	10–12	6–8	Yes	0	1	0
37	Female	Married	50	0	Yes	1	20	0	Yes	1	2	x^9
30	Female	Live apart	100	0	No	0	15	0	No	13	10	4
29	Male	Single	Student	0	Yes	1	13	0	No	16	3	0
44	Male	Married	25	75	Yes	4	15	0	No	20	25	x^9
41	Female	Single	No	100	Yes	4	24	5-6	No	21	20	7
38	Female	Single	No	75	Yes	3	24	0	No	17	17	x^9
33	Female	Single	50	0	No	0	4	0	No	14	9	9

/cohabitant, single/divorced, or living apart.
²Employment full-time 75–100%, part-time ≤50%, job-seeker, retired, or student.
³On sick leave full-time 75–100%, part-time <50%, or no sick leave.
⁴Current antidepressive medication.
⁵Other current psychiatric and/or somatic medications.
⁶Informants’ retrospective estimate of number of years with winter depression.
⁷Previous experience of bright light treatment (number of years).
⁸The Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, self-rating version (MADRS-S), Svanborg and Åsberg (2001).
⁹Data missing.