Seasonal affective disorder, also known as SAD, is a mood disorder which should not be confused with other types of depression.  Many people are affected in some way by the changing seasons, but people who suffer from SAD have a greater sensitivity to the lack of light in the winter.

The key indicator of SAD is seasonality.  Seasonality is when the symptoms are persistent, but tend to come and go year after year at approximately the same time.  Usually symptoms will appear sometime in the fall and will remit sometime in the spring.  The time when a person's season begins and ends varies with the individual. Some other main symptoms of SAD are a change in appetite (especially a craving for sweet or starchy foods), drop in energy level, change in sleep/wake patterns (especially a tendency to oversleep), decreased creativity, irritability, and inability to complete tasks.

One possible treatment for SAD comes in the form of being exposed to bright light, otherwise known as phototherapy.  The person with SAD sits in front of a light box, a specially designed bright light unit, for a given time each day.  Generally, light therapy takes about twenty minutes every morning during the person's season.  If you have SAD or know somebody who does, come visit the counseling center, room 203, and hang out with the light box which is available for your use.

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