Feeling blue? You shouldn’t blame it on winter

WiTH long hours of darkness, postChristmas poverty and the biting cold, many of us can end up feeling a bit blue at the start of the year.

But the number of people who suffer from seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is far smaller than previously thought, scientists have claimed.

SAD was first officially recognised as a depression disorder in 1987, and those afflicted experience recurring depressive episodes that coincide with specific seasons. Most SAD patients report an increase of symptoms in the cold and dark of autumn and winter – and a decrease in symptoms over the course of spring and summer.

However a study published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science has claimed that the number of people actually suffering from the disorder has been wildly exaggerated over the past few decades.

lead researcher Professor Steven loBello, from Auburn University, said: ‘The belief in the associa-

‘Depression is very stable across different seasons’

tion of seasonal changes with depression is moreor-less taken as a given.

‘But we found that the prevalence of depression is very stable across different latitudes, seasons of the year, and sunlight exposures.’

His conclusion was derived from a survey of US adults aged between 18 and 99, which found no evidence that levels of depressive symptoms vary dramatically from season to season.

Professor loBello pointed out that ‘ being depressed during winter is not evidence that one is depressed because of winter’.

However the study concedes that because of its limited sample size, it’s possible that major depression with seasonal variation does exist – but only for a small proportion of the population.

Professor loBello went on to point out that it was important not to a SAD diagnosis get in the way of a mental health professional examining patients’ other underlying causes of depression. He warned that ‘pursuit of treatments based on false causes is unlikely to lead to rapid and durable recoveries’.