Seasonal Affective Disorder?

[secularhermit]

Really? Interesting subject, though. =)

Those who live inthe tropic do not feel it and, if any,no doubt it would be seasonal, wether it be marked by X-mas or any other season related to those scars we´ve got.

Perhaps rainy seasons bother us a little (I like the rainy season, but I don´t like the mud I have to walk if I´m home, i.e.) so, when pours too much, I hide my own bedroom to do things I don´t get bored, things like those people there do to avoid the cold and that humity... Last year I learned here people like to "socialize" by using the internet, they eat more than usual for depressionand boring isolated conditions, but I lacked the understanding of several reasons spoken of here.

Thanks!

 

[Theygaveutheirworst]

Let us know how that light box goes, MissCris!

 

[secularhermit]

Here in Florida the Blond would like to report that we have SING-Q.......which stands for SUN IN GREAT-QUANTITIES....

Ha! Ha!

That sounds like: "MOVE TO FLORIDA AND KEEP ON LIVING".

 

[secularhermit]

i think the mortality rates peak in December through February.

Hmm!

Surely not by skating in the snow.

 

[MissCris]

i think the mortality rates peak in December through February.

I got curious about this, because I've heard this on the news before, and it also makes a lot of sense. So I started checking it out, and it turns out, suicide rates peak in the springtime in the northern hemisphere. I only skimmed through one article that talked about why that is-

"Psychiatrists have been scratching their chins over this one for years. Counterintuitively, the arrival of spring and the long sunny days it ushers in, mark a staggering rise in suicide rates.

This week, mental health experts at the Priory group said that May is the peak month for suicides in Britain. "The increase can be dramatic, with up to 50% more successful suicides in some cases," says Chris Thompson, director of healthcare at the Priory group. In Britain, about 6,300 people take their own lives each year, 90% of whom are likely to have mental health problems.

The seasonal effect is seen all over the world, with the northern hemisphere witnessing a big rise in suicides in May and June and the southern hemisphere seeing a similar rise in November. While no one has a complete explanation as to why, the leading theory is that the increase is down to the effects of sunlight on our hormones.

According to Thompson, the seasonal changes that bring most of us out of winter apathy may work against those who are coming out of severe depression. "It is a harsh irony that the partial remission which most depression sufferers experience in the spring often provides the boost of energy required for executing a suicide plan," he says. "Spring is a time for new beginnings and new life, yet the juxtaposition between a literally blooming world and the barren inner life of the clinically depressed is often too much for them to bear."

Paradoxically, says Thompson, sunlight-driven changes in levels of the feelgood chemical serotonin may make people more aggressive and, if they are depressed, they could direct that aggression at themselves. The theory gains some support from research by Canadian scientists linking seasonal changes in bright sunlight with more violent suicides.

Other researchers believe that the influence of sunlight on another hormone, melatonin, is to blame. Sunlight inhibits production of melatonin, which is known to influence our behaviour."

Why do suicide rates peak in the spring? | Science | The Guardian

I don't know how reputable/accurate that is, and I don't have time to dig further, but it's interesting anyway.

 

[secularhermit]

Hmm!

Surely not by skating in the snow.

No doubt the production of melatonina plays its role on it, the EMOTIONAL isolation and, perhaps, the reduced economical / physical activity... In other words, the increase of negative stress.

 

[Grace-Like-Rain]

"It is a harsh irony that the partial remission which most depression sufferers experience in the spring often provides the boost of energy required for executing a suicide plan"

Wow... that's sad.

 

[seoulsearch]

I am always more somber, reflective, and, quite frankly, just plain down during the fall and winter months, which, as others stated, is completely ironic because I LOVE fall and winter.

Part of it has to do with the fact that my ex-husband left around September (1999) so I went from loving the holiday season (which I consider to be between October and January) to absolutely loathing it. Halloween had been his favorite; Christmas was always mine, but after that year I hated everything about every holiday for years and never did anything to acknowledge or celebrate them other than what was mandatory. One year my entire family was gone so I stayed home on Christmas day and ate cold cereal.

I am just now starting to get my interest in the holidays back--last year I bought a few decorations for the first time in all these years; this year, I actually put them out.

However, and I'm not sure what the psychologists would say about this... I've lived the past 3 years in 2 different warm-weather, high-sunshine states, and while the effects have lessened a bit, I've STILL fallen into my slump, especially the first year I was away from the change of seasons. I recently spent a week back up north, and I found it incredibly depressing/unnerving to be missing out on all the natural cues (vs. just numbers on a calendar) that time is going by (I am dreadfully homesick for the turning of the leaves every year.)

I'm not sure what, or if, something will ever snap me out of it... I've also often said that if I am able to retire someday, I could see myself as a "Reverse Snowbird" (Bizarro Snowbird???), living in a sunshine state but then going "home" (back north) for a month in the fall and in the winter in order to watch the seasons pass by outside the window.

 

[Ho11y]

I can't stand bright and sunny day's. I really can't. I'm a lot happier during the fall and winter months, when it's darker and rains more.