Texan Mosaic

By Rebekah Trejo

Winter blues. Feeling down. Temporary insanity. All of those are terms that could be used to describe something the National Institute of Mental Health calls seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.

According to WebMD, SAD may affect 11 million people in the U.S. each year.

Joanna Perez, one of the licensed professional counselors at South Plains College, explains why it happens.

“Usually, it happens when there’s the time change- fall,” she says, “because there’s less light and there seems to be a lot of effect on serotonin levels and hormones and it affects the brain, which leads to a higher level of that depression.”

According to the NIMH, symptoms of depression can include:

• Persistent sad, anxious, or “empty” mood most of the day, nearly every day, for at least 2 weeks
• Feelings of hopelessness or pessimism
• Feelings of irritability, frustration, or restlessness
• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness
• Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities
• Decreased energy, fatigue, or feeling slowed down
• Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions
• Changes in sleep or appetite or unplanned weight changes
• Physical aches or pains, headaches, cramps, or digestive problems that do not have a clear physical cause and do not go away with treatment
• Thoughts of death or suicide or suicide attempts

For a winter- pattern SAD, the NIMH says additional symptoms can include:

• Oversleeping (hypersomnia)
• Overeating, particularly with a craving for carbohydrates, leading to weight gain
• Social withdrawal (feeling like “hibernating”)

Generally, experts say SAD symptoms last about five months out of the year and then go away during the spring and summer.

But that’s not always true.

“It’s temporary in the aspect that it’s more prevalent in certain months,” Perez says.  “It can last for a few months and completely go away and then come back in those months.”

And for some people, the problem is not a winter-pattern SAD.  The NIMH says some people suffer from a summer-pattern SAD, although it is less common.

According to “John”, an SPC student who prefers not to use his real name, the time change plays a big part in his symptoms.

“In the fall I start really strong,” he says, “and the closer it gets to winter, the worse I start doing. In the spring, I start weak and end really strong. The summer semesters are my best.”

Although, “John” says, he sometimes continues to have symptoms during spring and summer too.

Perez notes that SAD symptoms are different for everyone. “It’s never going to look the same from one person to another,” she says. “Some may be able to function completely normal and still be dealing with that in the back of their mind, and others might not be able to get out of bed, might not be able to eat as well, and it completely affects their functioning.”

Perez says symptoms of depression don’t vary too much from those of seasonal depression.

“There’s going to be the loss of motivation,” Perez says, “and there might just be some overall sadness, overwhelming feelings. And one of the big things is anger- irritability is a big one with depression- and it also comes with seasonal depression.

So, it’s pretty similar on both sides.”

So, if all the symptoms are different, how does one deal with them?

According to the NIMH, treatments for SAD vary. But the treatments fall into four categories that can be used alone or in combination:  light therapy, psychotherapy, medication, and vitamin D.

“John” says he has a type of depression called dysthymia. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, dysthymia is a milder but long-lasting form of depression.

In “John’s” words, it’s a type of sadness that “never goes away”. He described it like a graph or a curve. It goes up during summer, he says, and down during winter. He explains that his wintertime lows are lower, but that they don’t feel as low, because, since that level of sadness is always there, it feels like less of a drop than it normally would for someone else.

For all of the depression conditions described here so far, both “John” and Joanna Perez recommend talking to someone.

“Sometimes just talking to someone and releasing some of that can help,” Perez says.

“John” agrees. He also stresses the importance of following a routine. He says keeping up with the things that people with depression struggle with is a big help all on its own.

“I wake up and do the same thing every day and it helps me,” he says. “Keep showering, keep brushing your teeth as people with depression struggle with that, so keeping a routine helps.”

And now that Daylight Savings Time has arrived, the days are starting to get longer. That’s good news for many who battle the “winter blues”.

For those who struggle just a little more, there may be more work ahead.  For them it may include therapy, medication, or just picking up that toothbrush and taking daily tasks one sunrise at a time.