What is light therapy for victims of trauma?

Question:

One of my old therapists used some kind of light therapy for clients who were victims of trauma [not light therapy for depression …]. I had never heard of that before and haven’t heard of it since … is anyone familiar with it? This particular therapist was kind of New-agey, so I don’t know how kosher this treatment is .

Answers:
Some EMDR therapists uses alternately flashing lights on a bar shaped gizmo rather than physical movement of the finger from side to side as the stimuli source.

Here's a pic of what the therapist was probably referring to:

http://www.neurotekcorp.com/eyescan.htm...

Bright light regulates the Suprachaismatic Nucleus, or body clock. With the discovery of specialized light in 1984, researchers discovered that the body clock, located in the hypothalamus, was responsible for sleep/wake and energy/mood cycles. In addition to becoming imbalanced from the lack of light (As with Seasonal Affective Disorder, researchers have also learned that the body clock can easily become inbalanced from stress, trauma, surgery, age, etc. Many people who suffer from depression also have a body clock problem, as they suffer from sleep problems and feel worse at a particular time of day.

I'm slightly familiar with it, the flashes help re-store or bring forth memories that may have been repressed or forgotten. I have heard it is great to re-store memories which is often one of the things to be addressed in trauma therapy. It is not so common because its much less directive then more common therapy modalities, more like hypnosis, but is used by a few trained professionals.

What is light therapy for victims of trauma?

Health Resources