Cold reality
Doctors debate seasonal depression, but there’s no question for sufferers
W HEN Manhattan writer Anna Breslaw is invited out for drinks, she usually says no.
It’s not because she has sworn off alcohol or has other commitments. Breslaw suffers from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), also known as winter depression or seasonal depression. Its symptoms include excessive sleeping, low energy and increased anxiety — all caused by lack of natural light.
“Everything is a lot harder for me, particularly in January and February,” says the 30-year-old author of the novel “Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here.”
SAD was formally recognized as a condition by the National Institute of Mental Health in 1984 following studies by Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D., clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine and author of the book “Winter Blues.”
He claims one-fifth of the population residing on the US’s light-deprived Northeast coast displays at least some of SAD’s symptoms, which can also include increased appetite, social isolation and cravings for sweets and starch.
But SAD is not without its skeptics. For years, critics have said it is no different from regular depression. In January 2016, a study headed by Steven LoBello of Auburn University in Alabama looked at nearly 35,000 adults at different times of the year and in various time zones. The findings suggested that incidences of depression are stable across different latitudes, seasons and sunlight exposures, causing some to cast doubt on SAD as a legitimate psychiatric disorder.
“There’s this idea of a folk construct of seasonal depression” LoBello tells the Post. “In wintertime, depending how severe your winter is . . . it might impact your mood, but not to the extent of major depression.”
But Breslaw has no doubts about the effect of the season on her mood. Her psychiatrist increases her usual dose of the antidepressant Wellbutrin by 50 percent during winter in an effort to treat the symptoms, and every morning Breslaw uses a light therapy box — bulbs in a box with a diffusing screen that expose the user to intense levels of light under controlled conditions.
Rosenthal, too, stands firm and is doubtful of LoBello’s findings. “SAD is a pattern that can only be determined by examining a person’s history over time, not at a single point,” he says. “[There’s] vast literature from many countries showing SAD to be a major problem.”