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Seasonal Affective Disorder
The
National Mental Health Association prepared this
fact sheet to provide basic information on seasonal affective
disorder (SAD) for recently diagnosed patients and
their families ties, or for those who suspect someone they know may
have seasonal affective disorder. Please feel free to share it with
others.
Seasonal
affective disorder is a form of depression with symptoms that occur
during the winter months, usually going into remission during the
spring and summer. Although it was first noted before 1845,
it has only received wide public attention in the last decade or
so.
Causes
 It
has long been known that sunlight, as it peaks and ebbs over the
year, affects many animals' seasonal activities such as
hibernation or reproductive cycles Apparently, humans are no
exception.
Researchers
have tied SAD to melatonin, a sleep related hormone that the human
pineal gland produces and releases in the dark. Production of the
hormone seems particularly active during winter, when the days are
shorter and darker.
In 1980. a
researcher named Dr. Alfred Lewy discovered that very bright light
blocks the release of melatonin in people-and relieves winter
depression. Patients generally respond to bright light therapy
within four days of starting treatment -relapsing within four days
after stopping the therapy.
 Because
so many people respond to bright light treatment, it's assumed that
light has an antidepressant effect, and there have been no research
findings to indicate anything to the contrary. A definite link
between the patient's response and the way light affects melatonin.
however, has not yet been established.
The disorder
usually begins in early adulthood, and four times as many
women as men are affected. For most people with SAD, January and
February are the worst months.
Symptoms
The
symptoms for SAD are rather specific to avoid misdiagnosing
SAD for other depressive disorders:
- regular
occurring symptoms of depression (sad, anxious or "empty" moods;
decreased energy and interest etc.) during the fall and
winter months of at least three different years two of them
consecutively.
- at least
three times as many instances of depression within a
two-month time frame as during other times of the
year.
- no other
factors that could account for regular changes of mood
(become unemployed every winter, etc.)
- excessive
eating and sleeping; weight gain.
Treatment
Phototherapy (light treatment, or therapy) has been effective in
relieving (SAD) Patients are seated three feet away from a
full-spectrum florescent light (about 12 times brighter than
ordinary room light) and asked to glance at it about
once a minute. The only side effects it seems to case
are occasional eyestrain and headaches.
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