Green Light for Seasonal Affective Disorder

• Tinbergen, Ethology, and Mickey Mouse by James Brody, 5/31/97
  
  

Supernormal stimuli fit into the Santa Barbara model for Psychological Adaptations. That is, highly specific stimuli elicit highly predictable behavior sequences. Tinbergen and Lorenz showed that modifying the stimulus so that it is more intense or larger will make it more powerful than cues that have not been embellished. Such stimuli are described as "supernormal" or "superoptimal" (Hess, 1962).

I have speculated elsewhere (see postings relating to Psych Adaptations and cognitive therapy, for example) about the potential for stimuli to elicit reactions that compete with fear and anger. For example, the local hospital used to have farm scenes painted on the white ceiling above the ER tables. The effect on me was dramatic and soothing while I waited for a physician to appear.(1)

Gould and Gould (1997) have a compilation of research findings related to sexual selection. In one field study the ethologists put red bands on birds and found, accidentally, that the banded birds out-mated their unmarked competition. Putting green bands on the birds cut their reproductive success.

There is a group of people spending some hours per winter day, sitting in front of a bank of bright lights. The routine is said helpful for treating depression. There is some data that going outside, even on a cloudy day, will surpass the lumens emitted by the lights. Other tactics include having a bright light in the bedroom switch on at 5:30 A.M. and off again around 11 P.M.

I've embellished on these steps. I use a halogen lamp at my right elbow, shining it on my writing surface, while I see clients. My office is brightly lit through the winter and I seem less aware of the blackness outside my windows. Upstairs, I have a 50 watt bulb clamped to my headboard and focused just past my forehead. The lamp is helpful for bedtime reading; it also switches on from 5:30 AM-8 AM and again at 6 PM-11 PM. There's a second lamp, 25 watts, in the bedroom loft and that cycles on about 40 minutes before the headboard light and off 40 minutes after it. I enjoy the effects and, again, I am less aware of conditions outside my bedroom window.

After reading the material on releaser stimuli and color effects on bird mating behavior, I'm thinking of introducing some bright green tints behind a translucent panel. Of course, none of this may be doing anything beyond placebo; however, it beats monitoring darkened glass and wondering where the light went. (2)

NOTES:

1) The paintings vanished about a decade ago. The hospital affiliated with larger organizations or perhaps the artist, a key member of the staff, retired. Perhaps other patients would have been more responsive to drawings of horses, autos, small children, or teddy bears. We all have slightly different Psych Adaptations.

2) I also use a mental routine that involves the solstices. December 22nd is the first day of Winter, a depressing thought. However, it's also the first day on which the days start to get longer. Winter dies as he is born; I get a substantial lift monitoring the increase in daylight as the weeks pass.

REFERENCES:

Gould J & Gould C (1997) Sexual Selection: Mate Choice and Courtship in Nature. New York: Scientific American Library.

Hess E (1962) Ethology: An Approach Toward the Complete Analysis of Behavior. In Brown R, Galanter E, Hess E, & Mandler G. New Directions in Psychology. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.

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