Winter depression or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder that comes at the same time every year. It takes place in climates where there is less sunlight. Its symptoms include fatigue, hopelessness, isolation, changes in appetite, feeling empty, having trouble focusing or making decisions, and so on.
SAD can affect people in both the winter and the summer, it isn’t limited to just one season of the year. If someone is struggling with SAD during the winter, you will probably notice some unusual behaviors in them.
Some examples of behaviors are hypersomnia, overeating, and social withdrawal. Someone struggling with SAD during the summer will also have unusual behaviors as well. The symptoms include violent or aggressive behavior, insomnia, anxiety, agitation, and undereating/a poor appetite.
For someone to get diagnosed with SAD, they have to go to a mental health specialist and fill out a questionnaire to determine if their symptoms meet SAD criteria.
For more individuals with seasonal affective disorder, it starts around young adulthood.
It is more common for women to have this disorder than men. Winter-pattern SAD occurs more often than summer-pattern SAD. So it is more common for people living in the far north where there are fewer daylight hours to develop SAD.
Anyone can have SAD. However, it is more common in people who have depression or any type of bipolar disorder, especially Bipolar 2 disorder. In general, people with SAD tend to have other mental disorders as well. SAD can run in families and be in your genes. However, it is more common in people who have relatives with other mental illnesses like schizophrenia and depression.
Studies indicate people with SAD have reduced levels of brain chemical serotonin, which helps regulate your mood. Other research suggests winter-pattern SAD is related to sunlight and vitamin D. With less sunlight in the winter vitamin D levels drop and serotonin activity also drops.
SAD has two specific treatments. Light therapy and vitamin D are treatments meant specifically for winter-specific SAD. You can also use psychotherapy and antidepressants. However, they are used to treat depression in general, not specifically winter SAD.
Light therapy aims to expose the patient to more light to try and make up for the decrease in natural sunlight in recent months. In this treatment, a patient sits near a light box every morning for 30-45 minutes. The box light is 20 times brighter than any other indoor light and has damaging UV light filtered out.
Vitamin D is also used to treat winter SAD because many people with winter SAD have vitamin D deficiency. Studies that tested vitamin D as a treatment have produced a mix of results. Some find that it’s as helpful as light therapy, and some find that it has no effect whatsoever.
The disorder can’t be prevented but you can prepare for it. People can start taking medications for it before the fall to help prevent or diminish the symptoms they experience.
There is no cause or cure for SAD or winter depression. There are treatments and ways to make symptoms less severe for both winter and summer-specific SAD. Some people also participate in clinical studies to receive a wider range of treatments and also help researchers learn more about the disorder and possible treatments.
