Feeling down in the dumps? Not this season
The mild winter is making people happier.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is depression that occurs during the winter months. Because the winters in Cache Valley are long and cold, Utah State University students are susceptible to depression. However, fewer people have had it this year because the winter has been so mild.
Anthony Browning, a behavioral health consultant at Student Health Services, said there is a theory that SAD is caused by a biochemical imbalance in the brain by a gland that produces a hormone called melatonin.
When it is bright outside the body produces less melatonin and when it is dark it produces more. Melatonin is also a drug that people take to help them sleep.
When it is dark all the time, people produce more melatonin and it makes them sleepier. So they get out less and become depressed.
He said SAD has different levels of severity. If it is really severe it is as debilitating as clinical depression. It keeps people from functioning in their day-to-day life. It can cause disturbed sleep patterns, feelings of guilt, loss of self-esteem, anxiety and social problems.
The treatment they use for it is called light treatment.
They expose patients to a bright light box with bulbs that have at least 10 times the intensity of normal light. They place the box two or three feet away from the patient.
The patients don’t have to just sit in front of it and do nothing. They can do daily activities such as studying as long as the light is still hitting their eyes. Patients undergo the treatments for four hours a day. Browning said the light treatment works in 85 percent of SAD cases.
“It has become a big fad. A lot of people are going out and buying these lights, but I wouldn’t recommend it until you know more about them. They’re really expensive,” Browning said.
He said although the machine is effective, one hour outside in natural light is as good as three hours in front of the machine.
“People on campus are definitely at risk for this [SAD],” Browning said. “The depression is rare where there is a lot of daylight and the hours are long and bright, but here in Logan there is an increased risk because of our long winters.”
R. Trent Wentz, director of adult services at Bear River Mental Health, said when he diagnoses his patients with SAD he tries to expose them to as much natural light as possible.
He said he treats the disorder like any other depressive disorder.
He makes sure his patients have people to talk to, he exposes them to good lighting, makes sure they have places to go and has them engage in aerobic activity.
He said SAD has not been a big problem this year because the winter has been so mild.
“When people get out and ski they don’t have it [SAD]. They get into sunlight above the murk,” Wentz said. “If you don’t ski, find a person who does. Go have a cup of hot chocolate in the lodge. The important thing is to get out.”
Gwena Couillard, a licensed marriage and family therapist, said that in order for someone to be diagnosed with SAD there has to be a clear pattern they get depressed with no particular reason at certain times of the year, and the depression disappears when that time of the year is over.
“When the weather is dark and there is no sunlight, it is easier to feel worse about what is going on in your life,” Couillard said. “If people have problems in their life it may be more obvious to them in the winter because there are fewer opportunities to get out of the house and see the flowers, birds and the sky. Those things are psychologically uplifting.”
She said although she has never diagnosed any of her clients with SAD she has more clients in the winter, and their problems are more severe than during other seasons.
She said it could be because it is after the holidays and they just went home, because they’re stressed out over their heavy course load, or because it is winter and they never see the sunlight and they can’t go outside and exercise.
“When it is winter there are fewer possibilities to let out steam and relax. I would recommend that students do their harder work in the fall after they have come out of summer and they have more energy,” Couillard said. “In the natural kingdom, animals take it easy and hibernate in the winter. My advice to people is that they take it easy, too.”
To find out more information on SAD go to www.sad.org or contact the USU Student Health Center at 797-1660 or the USU Counseling Center at 797-1012.
–erina@cc.usu.edu