Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Missed our December Education Forum with Dr. Henry Levine speaking on Seasonal Affective Disorder? Here is a brief summary.

SAD is a recurrent seasonal depression usually arriving with fall or winter and lifting by spring or summer. It is a serious condition affecting women three times more freuently than men. The typical age of onset is in the 20's.

SAD is triggered by decreased daylight striking the eye's retina. This lack of light affects the body's biological rhythms resulting in depressive symptoms. Increased appetite, fatigue, and irritability are common.

Treatment can be through a combination of methods: education, exercise, diet, medication and light therapy.

There are two kinds of proven light therapy. Bright Light Therapy involves daily exposure to specially designed fluorescent light boxes. Dawn Simulation Therapy is the gradual lightening of a bedside light during early morning sleep.