Winter Depression

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), also known as “winter depression,” is an affective or mood disorder, most especially in cultures and religions that have winter festivals associated with candles or fire. Many of us may normally feel some fatigue, a bit of weight gain, difficulty to get out of bed, and bouts of “the blues” as the season moves from fall to winter. However, some people experience a very exaggerated form of these symptoms. Their depression and lack of energy becomes so serious that it interferes with their work and relationships with those around them.
This condition may affect over 10 million Americans at any given time. The symptoms may include, but are certainly not limited to, the following:

• A deep, brooding depression
• Lack of energy or unusual fatigue
• An increased need for sleep
• A craving for sweets
• Unexplained weight gain


Symptoms begin in the fall, peak in the winter, and usually resolve in the spring. Individuals suffering from winter depression often experience great bursts of energy and creativity in the spring or early summer, and if symptoms are mild, no treatment could be necessary needed. But if the symptoms cause the individual to act very unusually, then Lithium may be considered as a mood stabilizer. Coincidentally, there are a smaller number of individuals who suffer from summer depression.
Some individuals who work for long hours inside office buildings with only few windows may also experience symptoms throughout the year, and not only during the colder months. Some very sensitive individuals may note changes in mood during long stretches of cloudy weather.
70-80% of those with winter depression are women in their thirties, marking the period as the most common age of onset. But cases of childhood winter depression have been reported, although many of these have been successfully treated. For every individual with full blown winter depression, there are many more with milder “Winter Blues.”
The incidence of winter depression increases with escalating latitudes up to a point, but does not continue mounting all the way to the poles. There seems to be an interaction between the individual's natural vulnerability and her degree of light exposure. For example, one person might live in good health in Maryland but swiftly develops winter depression when he/she travels to Toronto, or another individual may be symptomatic in Baltimore, but have few symptoms when he/she visits Miami.
The American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual recognizes “winter depression” as a subtype of major depressive episode. The classic major depression involves decreased appetite, decreased sleep, and often, poor appetite and weight loss. It has long been known that some depressed individuals exhibit “atypical depression,” showing signs of increased sleep and appetite along with decreased energy. But not all of these atypical individuals also present a seasonal pattern.
Several people with winter depression also have mild or infrequently severe manic mood swings in the spring and summer. If these episodes are severe, the individual might be diagnosed with “Bipolar Disorder”, formerly called “manic depressive illness.”

About the Author

Tim Clark writes health related articles, which can be found on his website on bi polar disorder , where he has a large listing of bipolar articles. For more on winter depression click the link.

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by: regist Total views: 14 Word Count: 536 Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2008 Time: 12:25 AM 0 comments