What causes Seasonal Depression?

Personally for me it’s realizing how lonely I am. But I’m working on it.

The cause is the seasons :P
The cure party like its summer of ’ 79 everyday .

Combination of the dark weather and the stress of the holidays. Holidays are fun but you got a lot of running around and cooking and eating and visiting to do and it just takes a lot out of you. And if you don’t have any of that then that will be depressing in and of itself.

As nearly as we can tell, seasonal affective disorder (or more likely in your case sub-syndromal seasonal affective disorder) is a reaction to light deprivation. There’s a theory that it may be a relic of some primal hibernation response in humans, dating from a time when food would have been very hard to come by in the winter months, and a physiological slowdown would have favored survival. But nowadays we just plow on through the winter months, and even step on the accelerator through the holidays, which is exactly what our bodies are telling us not to do.

I am a fucking case study. Ask away.

Shitty seasons.

in my case, my birthday, at least for the last 2 years…

I get depressed on the reverse. I love winter, hate summer. I like the dark, and I looove the cold.

Heat sucks.

The seasons. That’s why it’s called seasonal.

@mowens Same, except my depression still seems to get worst during the winter periods. Maybe I just enjoy being depressed.

Have you tried modifying your light intake?

From The Mayo Clinic
“Light therapy is a way to treat seasonal affective disorder, depression and certain other conditions by exposure to bright artificial light. During light therapy, you sit or work near a device called a light therapy box. The light therapy box gives off bright light that mimics natural outdoor light.

Exposure to bright light from a light therapy box is thought to alter your circadian rhythms and suppress your body’s natural release of melatonin. Together, these cause biochemical changes in your brain that help reduce or control symptoms of seasonal affective disorder and other conditions. Light therapy is also known as bright light therapy or phototherapy. ”

Here is a sample light.

@Marina that could be part of it. I leave for work in the dark, come home in the dark, run errands in the evening when it’s dark….........

Could also be a good excuese right now to go to the Tanning salon. Get some bright lights there :)

@Skippy Nothing against the glow for the skin, but SAD requires a special kind of light that mimics sunlight. It is not what you get with a tanning bed.

@Marina I was reading your links, yea I get it. It made me smile thinking of 10 minutes of light all over!

I do need to look into some type of light…...

I just want to chime in on the SAD light- they’re amazing.

Something that helps me is to schedule Do Nothing Time. I get an hour to sit and do nothing. I can stare at the wall or just wrap myself in blankets, something like that. That way when I’m running around and feel like stopping I can say ‘no, self, it’s not time to do nothing yet’. It gives me a way to arrange my emotions so that I’m not trying to ignore how I feel (never works for me) and I’m also not letting them take over my day.

My doctor said you had to do the light thing early in the morning—like 5 am, for it to be effective. No way I can do that.

@daloon – my alarm goes off at 4:40am mon thru sat. I could do it. just need the correct light!

@Skippy I might go to bed at 1 or 2 in the morning. I can’t operate on 3 or four hours of sleep. At least, not regularly.

…yes I thought it was sheer lack of light (that specific type of light) and I was only the other day thinking about how I could use a light box! ...and here in the UK I think it’s the weather…rain rain rain rain rain…floods…. cold…illness… etc… fuel bills go up….

but then it’s magical seeing a pheasant in a frosty field….

I go to Florida to emeliorate SADness but I realize I’m very lucky to be able to do that.

I dont like going outside in the summer. I hate to sweat. I love the cold.

For me, it’s been the hustle of trying to register for classes and finding a cheap route to commute. I’m going crazy.

For the winter one, I think I read somewhere that the dark increases the amount of melatonin (or something like this D=) you produce. You get screwed up if you don’t have enough, but I guess it works for either extreme.

But I might be completely wrong because I read that ages ago and can’t really remember =)

But for me I love the winter because everything is so beautiful n’ gothic looking (kinda). And i love the dark, snow and everything seems kind of quieter/ more peaceful I don’t know. It’s like the line from this song ‘I’ll miss the winter, a world of fragile things, look for me in the white forest hiding in a hollow tree’. Whereas in the summer I can’t leave the house for more than 10 minutes at a push without getting angry, some awful headache, and a desire to beat things. =P
Ach sorry I’ve been ranting =/