Light Therapy SAD — MRCPsych Paper B MCQ
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Correct answer: D — Depression with a recurrent winter seasonal pattern
The correct answer is D. Bright light therapy is most closely associated with depression that recurs during winter and remits seasonally. NICE states that it may be discussed when a person with winter-pattern depression prefers it to antidepressant medication or psychological treatment, but the person should be told that evidence for efficacy remains uncertain. Meta-analytic evidence nevertheless supports benefit over placebo in seasonal affective disorder. Light therapy is not a condition-specific treatment for all non-seasonal depression, psychotic depression or treatment-resistant depression. It has also been studied as an adjunct in bipolar depression, but that evidence is less established and requires specialist consideration; it is not the NICE recommendation described in the stem.
Reference: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Depression in adults: treatment and management (NG222), recommendation 1.4.39: Use of light therapy. 2022; current following January 2026 surveillance. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222/chapter/Recommendations