Suzie Daggett interviews Brian Breiling, Psy.D., MFT, CAS. He is an expert on the psychological and physical effects of visual light stimulation and editor and author of three chapters in "Light Years Ahead: The Illustrated Guide to Full Spectrum and Colored Light in Mindbody Healing." He uses a variety of light therapy instruments and techniques in his practice of psychotherapy and Ayurvedic healing.

How did you get interested in psychology and light?

I come from a family of doctors, dentists and healers. My parents were very spiritually based, with many service and religious oriented activities. In college, psychology interested me very early. I grew up in the Bay Area with lots of outdoor physical activities, and when I attended the University of Oregon in Eugene, I soon started to realize how crucial the sun was for my health and happiness. In Oregon, the minute the winter sun came out - no matter the temperature - everyone was out in their T-shirts, soaking up the light and warmth. I had never lived where it was dark and cloudy for long periods of time. That first year of college I got involved in doing depression research. Ironically, it wasn't about light therapy, but about looking at how negative thoughts affected mood and how challenging the negative thoughts and doing more pleasurable activity could help. By the early 1980s, bright light therapy for the treatment of winter depression or Seasonal Affective Disorder became a respectable research topic and has stayed a main interest of mine. Ten years later, I helped pioneer the simultaneous use of light and psychotherapy, a technique known as Emotional Transformation Therapy.

Why is light so important?

Both the quantity (brightness, duration) and the quality (wavelength or color) of light in our environment are important to our mood, performance and vitality. Light is the major timer of our entire physiology, our hormones and neurotransmitters. Our 24 hour or circadian rhythm of alertness, sleepiness, hunger and mood is regulated by our environmental light exposure. Edison's invention of the light bulb in 1887 changed society as profoundly as the caveman's utilization of fire. Today we live in artificially lighted and heated homes that poorly replicate perpetual summer. Our normal daily and seasonal cycles require that activity be balanced with rest. Most of us enjoy sleeping more in fall and winter's dark months and being more active in the brighter, longer days of spring and summer. Yet the modern culture of 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year disrupts our natural circadian and seasonal cycles, with the end result being increases in stress and disorders of mood, sleep and behavior.

What is Emotional Transformation Therapy?

ETT is the simultaneous use of different wavelengths (colors) of flickering visible light through the eyes with counseling techniques such as empathic listening and changing negative self-talk. Fifteen years ago, I accidentally discovered that the strobing colored light helped access and release disturbing memories. Different colors elicit different emotional issues; in effect, there is a "language of light." We can't remain neutral when we see colored light. We either like it and are comfortable with it, or dislike it. Clients can have perceptual, intellectual and/or emotional reactions to colors, which reflect aspects of their life's experience - the parts of themselves and life they are or aren't comfortable with. Therapy clients sit a foot away from a strobing light source while describing their thoughts, feelings and visual perceptions. I match the flash rate and color to the clients' issues and goals such that they can better verbalize their experience without being overwhelmed by it. For example, Ruby light at seven-12 cycles per second elicits early childhood issues of safety and insecurity. The same color at faster flash rates promotes increased bodily awareness for someone who is numb or in shock.

What kinds of psychological difficulties do you like to work with?

Mainly I work with people with depression, anxiety, phobias and trauma. Working with light through the eyes gently and rapidly gets to the core of an issue so it can be released and transformed. Light really helps people be more present in the moment and to stay connected to their thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations while describing painful life experiences. I also practice a different form of light therapy called Bright Light Therapy that is effective for those who suffer from winter depression (SAD), sleep disturbances, PMS or shift work adjustment difficulties. My favorite device is a bright light box that uses broad spectrum fluorescent light that mimics sunlight without the UV. By just sitting a half hour a day 2 feet away from this bright, yet diffused light source nearly 80 percent of the 18 million American SAD suffers can be helped within a few days. Light has been called "natural Prozac" as it regulates the same neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine as the popular antidepressant. Light through the eyes stimulates key brain areas important in language, reading, learning and attention-concentration. Its potential applications in education and neurological rehab are just being discovered.

What do you get out of the work you do?

Tremendous joy by realizing that light can really change people's lives on all levels. For me visible light is the ultimate psychotherapeutic tool, next to compassion, as it connects people not only to their pain, but what is deepest and best in all of us, our inner light. To see "The Light" return in people's eyes is what my life is all about.

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Dr. Breiling can be reached at 478-9592 or through his Web site www.lightyearsahead.net.

Suzie Daggett is the host of Healing Insights on FCAT, Channel 11 and the publisher of INSIGHT, a directory of the healing arts practitioners, www.insightdirectory.com, she can be reached at 265-9255.