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A contribution of fluorescent lighting to agoraphobia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Jane Hazell  and
Arnold J. Wilkins
Jane Hazell
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychology Service, Walsall Health Authority, West Midlands and the Medical Research Council Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge
Arnold J. Wilkins*
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychology Service, Walsall Health Authority, West Midlands and the Medical Research Council Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr A. J. Wilkins, MRC Applied Psychology Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 2EF.
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Synopsis

Under three types of artificial lighting 24 women with chronic agoraphobia and 24 female control subjects assessed their mood and bodily symptoms, and their heart rate was measured. One of the three types of lighting was incandescent. The other two were fluorescent, one pulsating in the conventional manner 100 times per second and the other relatively steady. Both were provided by a single fluorescent lamp controlled from one of two circuits. When exposed to the conventional pulsating fluorescent light under double-blind conditions the agoraphobic group showed a higher heart rate and reported more anomalous visual effects in response to an epileptogenic pattern. Control subjects reported more bodily symptoms under the conventional fluorescent light than under the two other lighting conditions.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , August 1990 , pp. 591 - 596
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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