depression OVERVIEW

Depression is a serious medical illness. It's more than just a feeling of being sad or "blue" for a few days. If you are one of the more than 19 million teens and adults in the United States who have depression, the feelings do not go away. They persist and interfere with your everyday life. Symptoms can include, feeling sad or "empty",  loss of interest in favorite activities, overeating, or not wanting to eat at all,  not being able to sleep, or sleeping too much.

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THERAPY OVERVIEW

Major depressive disorder is a common debilitating mood disorder that affects quality of life. Prefrontal cortex abnormalities, an imbalance in neurotransmitters, neuroinflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction are the major factors in the etiology of major depressive disorder. Despite the efficacy of pharmacotherapy in the treatment of major depressive disorder, 30%–40% of patients do not respond to antidepressants. Given this, exploring the alternative therapies for treatment or prevention of major depressive disorder has aroused interest among scientists. Transcranial photobiomodulation therapy is the use of low-power lasers and light-emitting diodes in the far-red to near-infrared optical region for stimulation of neuronal activities. This non-invasive modality improves the metabolic capacity of neurons due to more oxygen consumption and ATP production. Beneficial effects of transcranial photobiomodulation therapy in the wide range of neurological and psychological disorders have been already shown.

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SCIENTIFIC BACKED RESULTS

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Review of transcranial photobiomodulation for major depressive disorder: targeting brain metabolism, inflammation, oxidative stress, and neurogenesis
P Cassano, SR Petrie, MR Hamblin… - …, 2016 - spiedigitallibrary.org

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Transcranial photobiomodulation for the management of depression: current perspectives
P Askalsky, DV Iosifescu - Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 2019 - Taylor & Francis

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 Transcranial photobiomodulation therapy for sexual dysfunction associated with depression or induced by antidepressant medications
F Salehpour, M Khademi, F Vahedifard, P Cassano - Photonics, 2022 - mdpi.com

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The potential of transcranial photobiomodulation therapy for treatment of major depressive disorder
F Salehpour, SH Rasta - Reviews in the Neurosciences, 2017 - degruyter.com

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effectiveness

The studies reviewed provide strong evidence for the mechanism of t-PBM (increasing mitochondrial energy production and increasing regional blood flow). The downstream effects of increased ATP production include not only increased cellular energy but also potentially increases in intercellular signaling.  The human studies reviewed are supportive of a likely t-PBM effect on depression.  Human studies have used a variety of t-PBM parameters and settings. For example, studies used different radiation power, different wavelengths, continuous vs pulsed light, acute vs chronic treatment, and irradiation of the entire cortex vs prefrontal area. 

P Askalsky, DV Iosifescu - Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 2019 - Taylor & Francis

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HOW OFTEN

How often should you repeat this therapy? The depression therapy program at Recharge requires a once per week visit to the club for 90 minutes per session.

 

RESULTS

What are the results of this therapy?  After approximately 6-8 weeks clients should see an improvement

 

Cost

 How much does this service cost?  The cost for this plan is $99 per month.  There are no contracts or long term commitments.  To get started you will need to purchase a Recharge Health Plan

 

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