A drug free treatment for depression. Is it real or snake oil?

Depression can be debilitating. I've seen the results firsthand with some of my friends. You don't want to get out of bed, you don't want to do anything, you don't really care what anybody says, you just feel like you can't get out of this downward spiral of depression. 

So how do you bust out of this cycle? I remember somebody once telling me that if I was feeling depressed, I should just pretend I'm happy until I'm actually happy. (Didn't work for me.)  

What do you know about bright light therapy? 

Basically, you sit in front of a bright light, whether it's natural or artificial at controlled wavelengths for a specific amount of time typically, around 30 minutes a day. The claim is that this helps boost your mood and relieve depression. 

According to Vice.com,
‘Bright light therapy, which is often used for conditions like seasonal affective disorder or circadian rhythm sleep disorders, has been shown to assist with non-seasonal depression as well.’ 

Bright light therapy? It sounds a little like voodoo to me, but here are the facts. A study was recently conducted that showed that 40% of people exposed to bright light therapy showed a measurable decrease in depression. It still seems a little nebulous to me, but you can't discount the possibility of an alternative, drug-free method for treating depression. (I'm all for drug-free) 

Obviously, more research is needed. 

I wonder if a tanning bed qualifies as bright light therapy? 

A Drug-Free Treatment Potentially Holds the Cure to Depression, Study Finds
This Is What It's Like to Live With High-Functioning Depression
Bright Light Therapy for Nonseasonal Depressive Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis | Depressive Disorders | JAMA Psychiatry | JAMA Network