Summertime SAD
Summertime is often depicted as a joyous time. “Fun in the sun!” people say. Ads showing nothing but smiles and people on pool floats. It’s shown as the time of year that we should have all been waiting for. For many people though, summer is rough. As we in the northeast leave the most recent heat wave and gear up for the next one, it’s important to think about why summer fun may not be so fun. Emotions may be all over the place. Irritability may be high. Isolation is greater. What might be going on? For many-spring and summer onset seasonal affective disorder.
What is seasonal affective disorder or SAD? Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that follows a seasonal pattern. In fact, the diagnosis is Major Depressive Disorder with seasonal pattern. SAD has many features of other types of major depression including Feeling sad, irritable, or having a depressed mood Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed, changes in appetite; usually eating more, change in sleep; usually sleeping too much, loss of energy or increased fatigue despite increased sleep hours, increase in purposeless physical activity (e.g., inability to sit still, pacing, handwringing) or slowed movements or speech (these actions must be severe enough to be observable to others), feeling worthless or guilty, difficulty thinking, concentrating, or making decisions. and thoughts of death or suicide.
Typically, when we hear about SAD, it’s in the autumn, usually around the time (if you’re in the US) that daylight savings time falls back to standard time and it gets dark significantly earlier. Generally, this time of year coincides with people doing fewer things socially as it is cold and dark which potentially increases feelings of isolation, with the it getting darker earlier, peoples’ circadian rhythms are thrown a bit off and may impact their sleep and all taken together may increase feelings of depression. Because this is the most common time of year for SAD to show up, SAD showing up in the summer gets almost completely ignored. However, showing up in the winter months is not a diagnostic criteria for SAD, it is simply having a seasonal pattern even if that pattern is during the warmer, summer months.
The symptoms of SAD in the spring and summer are the same as those in the winter. It is depression that has an onset seasonally, and, if yours has a warm weather bend, likely shows up around the time that we are “springing forward” to daylight savings time and longer days. What can exacerbate these symptoms look a little bit different. With daylight lasting much longer, circadian rhythms are again thrown off and people may not be getting enough or restful enough sleep. Due to a variety of factors, people may be sensitive to heat which may preclude them from engaging in typical summer time activities and could potentially exacerbate feelings of loneliness and isolation.
An interesting connection between summertime and SAD is heat. In many psychology classes when the difference between correlation and causation is taught, a study is used as an example that shows as ice cream sales increase so do murder rates. This is to teach that 1. Correlation does not equal causation, and 2. To look out for confounding variables that may explain the relationship. In this example, the confounding variable is heat. We’ve repeatedly found that as heat rises, so does irritability (and ice cream sales). Irritability is an under-discussed though almost most common symptom of depression. When you’re in a situation where your irritability is higher, it can exacerbate other symptoms of depression.
If you’ve noticed an increase in your depression symptoms during the summer and wondered if you had some “reverse” seasonal affective disorder, you’re not alone and you’re not crazy. Even though it’s not the most common presentation, spring/summer onset seasonal affective disorder is very real and you don’t have to just pretend it’s not happening. Working with a skilled therapist can help you to recognize the triggers for your SAD and identify, learn, and practice skills that can mitigate the impact of the resulting depression. It does not have to be your foregone conclusion to be miserable in the summer.