Hardest Season
Posted: 02 Dec 2014, 11:11Seasonal Affective Disorder and the difference from winter blues
2 December 2014 Last updated at 10:52
It's 30 years since the term seasonal affective disorder (SAD) was first used to describe winter depression. Is it overused today?
In 1984 psychiatrist Norman Rosenthal first used a term that changed the way people thought about winter.
Seasonal affective disorder describes a type of depression with a seasonal pattern, usually occurring during winter. A lack of light is thought to affect the part of the brain that rules sleep, appetite, sex drive, mood and activity levels. Patients experience lethargy and a craving for sugary snacks.
Rosenthal included the term in a paper he co-wrote following a move from the warm climate of Johannesburg in South Africa to the north-eastern US, with its more severe winters.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30282261
2 December 2014 Last updated at 10:52
It's 30 years since the term seasonal affective disorder (SAD) was first used to describe winter depression. Is it overused today?
In 1984 psychiatrist Norman Rosenthal first used a term that changed the way people thought about winter.
Seasonal affective disorder describes a type of depression with a seasonal pattern, usually occurring during winter. A lack of light is thought to affect the part of the brain that rules sleep, appetite, sex drive, mood and activity levels. Patients experience lethargy and a craving for sugary snacks.
Rosenthal included the term in a paper he co-wrote following a move from the warm climate of Johannesburg in South Africa to the north-eastern US, with its more severe winters.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30282261