Seasonal Affective Disorder
(SAD)
It’s hard for me to get out of bed, I find myself avoiding my friends, I have a hard time concentrating, and all day long I look forward to the moment I can crawl back in bed and pull the covers over my head.” Does this sound familiar? Do you or someone you know seem to suffer from the “winter blahs”? If so, it may actu- ally be something more severe…Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
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Seasonal Affective Disorder is a type of depression that oc- curs at the same time every year. And while most people who suffer from SAD suffer from a winter depression, there are actu- ally a small number (about 10% of total SAD cases) of people who suffer from summer depression. Overall, it is estimated that half a million people suffer from SAD every year. Of those people suffering, 3 out of 4 are women, with symptoms usually surfacing for the first time somewhere between 18 and 30 years of age.
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very year I look forward to the holidays…to the family gatherings, the hope of snow, the carols on the radio, the lights twinkling up and down the streets. But then, that time of year comes around, and I just can’t seem to get into it.
Cause of Seasonal Affective Disorder What causes SAD? Good question! Little is known about
what causes this seasonal depression, but there are some good theories out there. It seems that our body’s natural circadian rhythm (our biological clock) gets thrown off a little bit when the days get shorter and stay darker longer. This change, for some people, can lead to feelings of depression. Another factor is that reduced exposure to sunlight can cause a drop in our body’s serotonin levels. Since serotonin is a chemical in our brain that affects mood, this may also lead to feelings of depression. A third factor is that the change in seasons can disrupt the balance of a natural hormone in our body called melatonin. Melatonin plays a role in our sleep patterns and our moods, so when this hormone gets out of balance, so can our sleep patterns and our moods.
Symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder If you suffer from SAD with a winter onset, you will probably start to notice some symptoms beginning around October or November, and then going away around March or April. How-
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