Dr. Kelly Rowan

That's where it really tends to hit folks.

One of the distinctions between seasonal affective disorder and the winter blues, or maybe just a few mild symptoms, is the duration.

Generally the symptoms begin in the fall and they persist through January, February, and into March, maybe even April.

So again, on average, the episodes last for five months of the year, every year,

rinse and repeat, do it again year after year.

So it's a lot of time to be struggling with serious symptoms of depression.

There are three treatments for seasonal depression that are effective.

They include light therapy, antidepressant medications, and cognitive behavioral talk therapy.

Light therapy is timed daily exposure to bright artificial light.

Most commonly, we're using 10,000 lux of full spectrum or cool white fluorescent light.

Lux is a measure of light intensity.

10,000 lux is the same intensity that comes from the sky at sunrise on a bright, clear day.

And we do light therapy first thing in the morning upon waking to try to simulate an early dawn and hopefully jumpstart that sluggish circadian clock back into a more normal phase, functioning more like it is in the summertime for the individual.

We do light therapy under supervision.

I always say, even though you can walk into Costco and walk out with a happy light, doesn't mean that you should.

That light therapy is a medical device.

It can have some side effects, usually mild things like eye strain, headaches, feeling a little bit wired up.

Hmm.

However, it can have some more serious side effects, things like an increase in thoughts about suicide, the possibility of a dangerously elevated mood state called mania or hypomania.

So these are among the reasons why it's important to do light therapy, at least when getting started under the supervision.