Color therapy/light therapy/color psychology Resources

*suspension of disbelief makes this more fun*

Color Therapy is a book by Reuben Amber, first published in 1964 in India (I'm not sure of any biographical information about this author but I'm curious as to his cultural heritage to compare to the second book I will mention). The first half of the book is general theories of color as perceived by people and groups both in modern day and past perspectives. The second half of the book is about application of color for healing:

In this section, a set of directives applying color to the dietary problems of man How to Lose Weight and How to Gain Weight is followed by an analysis of the properties and the healing powers of color. It ends with a list of the various diseases, the specific colors to be used in effecting cures, and the application of color to foods. Part II is specific and, at all times, practical. (from the introduction)

Part 2 is pretty wild and esoteric but interesting as theories anyways. I also wish I could find out more about the author and the sources he draws from. There is also an emphasis on food and color in this book which I find fascinating even if I remain skeptical:

Diet should always be the foundation upon which all the other techniques rest. The therapist must consider food and the color equivalents, as the last chapter of this section indicates. Foods of the proper color as dictated by the individual's needs must be recommended for food is nothing more than color materialized by the plant. (198)

Here's an example of some theories I find pretty amusing:

In the matter of clothing, white transmits more of the light rays than does dark clothing, and the light rays have a more animating effect on the body. Red can be worn when it is desired to warm any part of the body; for cold feet, red tissue paper placed inside the socks or red socks will have a more warming effect than a hot water bottle. (189) 

Doesn't seem likely since the paper would have to be illuminated to have the properties of the color itself? Not sure about that one. Red socks, maybe...

___________________

Another book I found for this project in particular is Color Psychology and Color Therapy: A Factual Study of the Influence of Color on Human Life by Faber Birren (first published in 1950). I haven't actually been able to read most of it but I found a section about light and plant growth which correlates to my interest in nutrition and color:

Johnston mentions that under the action of light, carbon dioxide and water are united in the presence of chlorophyll to form simple sugars. These sugars are elaborated into starch, proteins, organic acids, fats, and other products. Most of these compounds are foods - for the plant as well as for the animals that come to feed upon them. Further, the growth of the plant is vitally affected by the length of day, the intensity of light, and by color - even more so than by temperature and moisture (which also depend on light). (85)

I also wanted to mention that in the bibliography of this book most of the sources were either published in New York or London so I see a western bias to this book from noticing that so it makes me wonder about the specific perspective Amber was coming from.

____________________

maybe start here:
This video (It's super long and I recommend skipping to about 11:35 to start) is a good introduction into color as light therapy, which, is distinct from color therapy according to wikipedia although I think wikipedia is referring to color therapy in the historical context because color and light go hand in hand i.e. pseudoscientific color therapy theories published in mid 20th century* are distinctly different from proven effective light (color) therapy like neonatal jaundice treatment (seems to me as if scientists would like to distinguish color therapy that is proven to be effective as light therapy rather than just keeping it in the realm of color therapy). Anyways, there are some things I could take or leave in the video but overall a good overview.

*note: of course some non-western cultures as mentioned in Amber's book already had established theories of color and healing before it was discussed in western medical context

For further inquiry I'd like to look up more modern studies of light used for therapeutic application and see what the up to date research is and from there develop on my original idea of a dialogue around color and color therapy theories as a way to access the psyche or the "shadow self" and working through aspects of that part of the self using color as the guide.
I would also just like to read more books and articles from various perspectives to compare and contrast different cultural ideas about color.