Near-Infrared And Red Light Therapy For Anxiety And Depression

A 2009 study took 10 patients with a history of major depression and anxiety (including PTSD and drug abuse) and gave them four weeks of treatments to the forehead with red/NIR light. Remarkably, by the end of the four-week study, 6 out of 10 patients experienced a remission of their depression, and 7 out of 10 patients experienced a remission of their anxiety.”

• Schiffer, F, et al. (2009). Psychological benefits 2 and 4 weeks after a single treatment with near infrared light to the forehead: a pilot study of 10 patients with major depression and anxiety.

Though further research is needed, there have been 10 studies so far on the use of photobiomodulation to treat depression and anxiety related disorders with 9 of 10 studies yielding very positive results.

• Disner, S. G. (2016). Transcranial Laser Stimulation as Neuroenhancement for Attention Bias Modification in Adults with Elevated Depression Symptoms. Sep-Oct;9(5):780-7.

• Mohammed, H. S. (2016). Transcranial low-level infrared laser irradiation ameliorates depression induced by reserpine in rats. Lasers in Medical Science, 31(8):1651-1656.

• Xu, Z. (2017). Low-Level Laser Irradiation Improves Depression-Like Behaviors in Mice. Molecular Neurobiology, 54(6):4551-4559.