Getting SAD Is More Than Having The Blues

If you find yourself feeling notably less happy in the winter months, you may have SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) which this article asserts is a form of major depression, a serious mental disorder. SAD comes not from the weather or the temperature, but from darker days causing a shift in 24-hour hormonal rhythms, and decreasing the amount of melatonin produced. It may also be linked to ADHD and alcoholism--similarly to major depression in general--so an ADHD patient whose symptoms become worse in the winter may also be suffering from SAD.

This article is from 2007, and refers to research into SAD and its connections with ADHD and alcoholism as recent and preliminary, so it is a bit dated. I wanted to talk about it, however, because I myself suffer from depression, and I definitely believe that my symptoms tend to get worse during the winter. I was aware that such a phenomenon was not unheard of, but was shocked to find that recognition of it was so recent. I had assumed this was a much more well-known disorder, so at the time of the article's writing, it was probably more ground-breaking than it is now. A part of me was also surprised to find that SAD was a largely biological phenomenon.

For me, personally, the reason I feel more depressed in the winter can be explained psychologically. As the days grow shorter, I miss the beauty of the sunlit day, and come to find the seemingly never-ending nights gloomy, even oppressive, or confining. Additionally, the early sunset makes me feel like the days get away from me too easily--that is, the days are shorter, so I feel like I wasted a day because the day inevitably ends before I'm ready for it to, and I feel unaccomplished (never mind the fact that, of course, I won't actually be going to sleep until long after the sun sets). There is probably a biological factor to it as well, as I know from experience that there is absolutely a biological factor to my overall depression, but it's possible the biological nature of SAD has been somewhat exaggerated.

Of course, I know that anecdotal evidence is unreliable, and my own experiences with depression are just a drop in a bucket compared to the extensive research professionals have done, so I don't really doubt the biological factors behind SAD. There is a form of therapy for SAD known as light therapy, in which the patient spend some time under bright lights in the morning to regulate their melatonin secretion, and I see no way that this would be at all effective in combating a primarily psychological SAD. However, one part of the article causes me pause: "Emerging evidence also shows that a pattern of seasonal alcohol use or abuse is associated with SAD. Patients might be self-medicating to cope with an underlying depression, researchers said." Isn't it possible the researchers have cause and effect backwards? It seems much simpler to assume that the alcoholism and abuse are themselves causing the feeling of depression, and understandably so. But maybe I'm being naive. Still, perhaps more research into the psychological factors of SAD is necessary.