Discuss seasonal affective disorder (SAD), including its symptoms, when and where this depression is prevalent, why it occurs, and how it is treated

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer will include that seasonal affective depression (SAD) is a depression that occurs only during fall and winter and appears to be related to one's decreased exposure to sunlight. Almost anyone can get a little depressed when days are short, dark, and cold. But when a person's symptoms are lasting and disabling, the problem may be SAD. Starting in the fall, people with SAD sleep longer but more poorly. During the day they feel tired and drowsy, and they tend to overeat. With each passing day, they become more sad, anxious, irritable, and socially withdrawn. Although their depressions are usually not severe, many victims of SAD face each winter with a sense of foreboding. SAD is especially prevalent in northern latitudes, such as Canada and Sweden, where days are very short during the winter. In the United States, SAD affects one to two percent of Florida's population, about six percent of the people living in Maryland and New York City, and nearly 10 percent of the residents of New Hampshire and Alaska. One study found that 13 percent of college students living in northern New England showed signs of suffering from SAD. The students most likely to be affected were those who had moved from the South to attend college. Seasonal depressions are related to the release of more melatonin during the winter. This hormone, which is secreted by the pineal gland in the brain, regulates the body's response to changing light conditions. That's why 80 percent of SAD patients can be helped by a remedy called phototherapy. Phototherapy involves exposing SAD patients to one or more hours of very bright fluorescent light each day. An hour or more of bright light a day can dramatically reduce the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder. Treatment is usually necessary from fall through spring. Light therapy typically works best when a blue light is used early in the morning.