Mental Health Guide

Seasonal Depression

How would you feel if your mood is normal in summer and just when you are getting ready to celebrate the winter seasons, your mood jumps to a depressive level? This is a type of depression which lasts for a season with the individual having this disorder showing depressive symptoms during system. Quite often, seasonal depression starts with the fall and ends with the onset of summer. Known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, this disorder shows up symptoms like - Fatigue, Increased need for sleep, Decreased levels of energy, weight gain, Increase in appetite, Difficulty in concentrating and increased desire to be isolated from the society. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in most cases is known as "the winter blues" with very few cases reported as "the summer blues".

Some statistics on Seasonal Depression

Close to 6% of the US population suffers from SAD, with about 15% of the cases suffering from mild version of the winter blues. Women are highly affected by SAD with close to 75% of the cases reported being women. Though, the patients of SAD belong to the age group 20-40, this has gone on to affect children and adolescents too. SAD is found more common in people

who live at the higher altitudes.

Decreased availability of sunlight - Some points from the statistics for seasonal depression indicate that individuals who do not have exposure to sunlight suffer from this disorder. It is to be believed that sunlight impacts mood regulation, sleep and hormone generation running slowly in the winter seasons.

Alteration of the chemical composition of brain transmitters - Every human body has neurotransmitters which are the brain chemicals aiding the transmission of information between nerves. Lack of exposure of these neurotransmitters to sunlight may cause a person to suffer from SAD. Exposure to sunlight may cause these imbalances to be corrected.

How is Seasonal Depression treated?

Seasonal depression is one of the simplest forms of treatment when it has to be treated. Simple techniques like spending a lot of time outdoors, maximizing the sunlight exposure at your home and office can do well to take the person out of SAD. Anti-depressants are also used for treating SAD. Another technique used for treating Seasonal Depression is Light therapy. Light therapy advocates individuals to eat or read in bright light (about 10,000 Lux) to neutralize the consequences of SAD. Light therapy needs to be a continuous process throughout the times of low sunlight as discontinuation of this therapy midway may result in symptoms to come back.

Eating a well balanced diet and professional counseling are some of the other ways seasonal depression can be treated. All in all, if a person is diagnosed with SAD, it is not difficult for a person to come out of it.