Mental Health Roundup: Seasonal Affective Disorder

In the first of an occasional series, I'm providing a roundup of blog posts on a specific mental health topic. I'm starting off with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) since this is the time of year that most people who suffer from SAD start to experience symptoms. As you'll read below, some people experience reverse SAD in the spring and summer.

Dr. Deb covers the basics in her post Seasonal Affective Disorder including symptoms and treatments.
The psychiatrist and researcher who first described SAD, Norman Rosenthal, includes a self-assessment checklist in How Seasonal Are You? | Psychology Today.

Phillip Dawdy at Furious Seasons discusses whether SAD is a separate disorder rather than a variant of Major Depressive Disorder in Should Seasonal Affective Disorder Be A Separate Disorder?. He quotes an editorial by Norman Rosenthal in the American Journal of Psychiatry from which the following table is taken.


Douglas Cootey at A Splintered Mind: Overcoming AD/HD & Depression With Lots Of Humor And Attitude writes about his inexpensive solution to SAD--full-spectrum CFL's in Putting a Spotlight on Seasonal Affective Disorder - Haunting My Family With My Spectral Personality.

John Briffa reviews two research studies in ‘Blue’ light found to be most effective in combating seasonal affective disorder | Dr Briffa's Blog and mentions his own experience using a blue-light box.

For those of you interested in neuroscience, read Seasonal Affective Disorder - The Basics | A Blog Around The Clock written by chronobiologist Bora Zivkovic at Science Blogs. He discusses the relationship between circadian rhythms, melatonin, and SAD.

That's it for this Mental Health Roundup. Tell me what you think. Do you have other resources or experiences to share, especially, on SAD in children or adolescents? If not, what about your own success in coping with SAD?

Please note that I allow anonymous comments. I also moderate comments to exclude commercial or otherwise inappropriate comments.

E-mail me with your suggestions for future roundups with links to your own or other people's non-commercial posts for consideration.