Submitted by Anjum Bashir, MD
Chilly temperatures, dreary days, and long nights don’t just mean winter has returned to Central Illinois. For many people, it’s also the start of the SAD season, when Seasonal Affective Disorder most often returns before disappearing again in spring. Although twenty percent of people show some symptoms of the condition each year, it goes beyond simply being tired of the endless string of cloudy, cold days — even when the gloomy weather hangs on well into spring.
About five-percent of adults, most often women over twenty-three years of age in northern climates with a family history of the condition, react to decreasing amounts of sunlight and colder temperatures in a way that meets the diagnostic criteria for the disorder. Yet, it can strike people of all ages from other areas, and during other times of year, too.
Signs that you or someone you love might be suffering from the condition include: depression, anxiety, energy loss, tiredness, irritability, difficulty concentrating, reduced interest in activities previously enjoyed, lower activity levels, and appetite changes that often include carbohydrate cravings, which can lead to weight gain.
While everyone feels down on occasion, SAD symptoms often start out milder in fall, and increase in severity during the darkest months of winter. Since it can lead to social withdrawal, problems with work or school, substance abuse, and, in severe cases, suicidal thoughts or behaviors, Seasonal Affective Disorder should be taken seriously, and not considered as something that one should just “snap out” of.
Although the symptoms can be clear, the causes are not as well known. Researchers do know that the risk of getting SAD for the first time decreases with age, and a close relative with the condition can be a factor. Like other mental health conditions, genetics, age, and the body’s natural chemical makeup play a role, too. Inadequate amounts of bright light and Vitamin D can cause chemical changes in the brain, including Melatonin and Serotonin levels, which affect mood.
In this way, the symptoms of SAD are similar to depression, which can make a diagnosis more difficult. Doctors usually require lab, verbal, and written tests to eliminate other conditions, while evaluating a person’s emotional and intellectual health. Psychiatrists will also
Psychiatrists can help patients improve significantly with a treatment program incorporating medication and psychotherapy. Antidepressant medications can be a safe and effective tool in helping to make brain chemicals more available. Combined with therapy, therapists help patients replace unhealthy thoughts and behaviors by incorporating strategies for dealing with stress, emotions, interpersonal relationships, and communication problems.
Psychiatrists may also recommend other treatments, such as phototherapy. Phototherapy, also called light therapy, exposes people to light in different ways. Dawn simulation has patients sleep in a room with a dim light that goes on in the morning, and gets progressively brighter, like the sunrise. Bright light therapy requires that patients sit in front of commercially-available light boxes (about twenty-five times as bright as a normal living room bulb) once or twice a day for about thirty minutes. It’s the quantity of the source that counts.
Seasonal Affective Disorder is more than just the winter blahs. While we can’t fix winter weather, people don’t have to wait for the sunny days of spring or a trip to the Caribbean to feel better. Those who suffer, or appear to suffer, from SAD can improve, especially with treatment that starts before the condition worsens. This is one reason why it’s important to be aware of Seasonal Affective Disorder now, during the long dreary days of January and February, so you don’t mistakenly attribute it to simply a post-holiday let down.
For more information on mental illness, TMS Therapy for depression, or Quotient Testing for ADHD diagnosis, please contact Anjum Bashir, MD at 309-808-2326 or 217-422-0027. He is one of the few physicians in Central Illinois offering TMS Therapy and Quotient Testing. His Bloomington office is located at 205 N. Williamsburg, Suite D; and he also has an office in Decatur. Most insurance companies, including BC/BS, UBH, and Medicare, cover TMS therapy.
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