Seasonal Affective Disorder: 5 Warning Signs to Identify It

A review of the signs that help identify seasonal affective disorder.

Seasonal affective disorder is a psychopathological phenomenon that shows the link between mental processes and aspects that we usually attribute only to meteorology and astronomy.

It is a psychological disorder in which the person develops an emotional disturbance repeatedly at more or less the same time of the year, and which generates depressive symptoms.

In this article we will see how it affects the mental health of the people, as well as arias laves to know if it is affecting us.

What is seasonal affective disorder?

The emotional affective disorder is a pattern of occurrence of depressive symptoms (i.e., linked to a very low mood) that occurs repeatedly over the years with the arrival of a particular season, usually winter.usually winter.

In some diagnostic manuals it is defined as an independent psychological disorder, while in the DSM-5 it is considered a variant of depression in which the symptoms disappear with the end of the season that affects the person's mood.

• You may be interested in "How does a time change affect our biorhythms?"

Why does this mood alteration occur?

As with the vast majority of psychological disorders in general, the causes of seasonal affective disorder are complex and cannot be reduced to just one or two triggers; there are several factors that interact with each other and lead people to develop symptoms. However, in the case at hand, it seems that the most important causes (i.e., the ones that have the most weight in the appearance or non-appearance of a psychological problem) are linked to the change from one season to another, which implies differences in temperature and exposure to sunlight..

At first glance, it might seem that these causes are somewhat arbitrary and "out of place". What does the change of seasons have to do with psychological processes? However, if we look at how all other life forms function, this relationship does not seem so strange. The planet Earth is full of examples of animals that innately show a strong predisposition to behave in a a strong predisposition to behave in one way or another depending on the season.. Elements such as the lack of food availability during the cold months, the reduction of vegetation mass that complicates camouflage, the lack of sunlight that complicates mobility... are aspects that have been reflected in the way in which many species have evolved to adjust to these phases and transitions that the ecosystems they inhabit go through.

Of course, some cases are clearer than others: the lifestyle of the wolverine, a mustelid that lives in the taiga and must spend the winter surviving on carrion, is not the same as that of Homo sapiens, a hominid that evolved near the equator, where there is little difference between the months of January and June. However, hormonal imbalances linked to the change of seasons can affect us to some extent.In the case of a small part of the population, these can become so significant that they can produce emotional problems (or favor their appearance).

• Article related: "Emotional psychology: main theories of the emotion".

The warning signs of the seasonal affective disorder

As we have seen, there is no clear consensus on whether seasonal affective disorder is an independent clinical entity or whether it is a version of depression.

Thus, the symptoms that characterize seasonal affective disorder are those of depression. Knowing them will help us to detect whether it is affecting us, although the definitive diagnosis can only be made by mental health professionals. Let's see the keys to identify it.

1. You notice a drop in your mood coinciding with the beginning of the season.

Symptoms of seasonal affective disorder usually appear in the first third of the entry into a season, always the same, which in most cases is winter.. That is to say, that year after year, this emotional imbalance usually appears more or less in the same dates, without it being possible to attribute it to clear changes produced in the labor, familiar or geographical context in these dates (for example, to go to work to another country in certain weeks of the year).

2. You feel that your day-to-day life has become unstructured due to changes in exposure to sunlight.

Many people who suffer from seasonal affective disorder notice that the lack of light associated with the winter makes their day to day life offer them much less incentives and see more problems in enjoying their free time as a result.

3. The feeling of hopelessness is projected into the future.

Although seasonal affective disorder is limited by the season that triggers it, the way in which sufferers view the future goes beyond that. There is a feeling that life has no meaning in general, that we can never be happy, that we can never be happy.that we will never be able to be happy, etc.

4. Emotional fatigue always appears at the same time.

The person who suffers this alteration notices that he/she lacks energy to carry out his/her responsibilities in the day to day, and spends his free time adopting a passive attitude..

5. Lack of interest in hobbies

During this time of the year, the person abandons his hobbies, because he does not feel motivated by them and, on the other hand, he notices that he lacks the strength to get involved in them, and, on the other hand, notices that he lacks the strength to get actively involved in anything that he does not see as an obligation. that he/she does not see as an obligation.

What to do in the face of this alteration?

The seasonal affective disorder can be treated in psychotherapywhere strategies of emotional management and reactivation of the habits capable of activating the person behaviorally and emotionally will be carried out. Forms of medical intervention such as psychotropic drugs or light therapy can also be used, always under health supervision.

Are you looking for professional psychological support?

If you are interested in having psychological help to detect and identify mood problems that may be affecting you and start a psychotherapy process, please contact me.

My name is Javier Ares and I specialize in psychological disorders related to anxiety and depression, as well as couple problems; I attend adolescents and adult population. You can count on my services in my office located in Madrid or through the modality of online therapy by video call.