Symptoms Of Seasonal Depression
Q: I'm interested in any information about seasonal depression. I'm basically
ignorant of the entire subject.
A:Norman Rosenthal's excellent paperback "Winter Blues" is a good place to
begin. It's available in libraries and bookstores.
An AltaVista or DejaNews search for +seasonal +affective +disorder will
turn up a lot. A visit to your library's Magazine and Newspaper Index will
also.
There is a LOT of snake oil sales going on, a lot of predators trying to
sell things that are useless to dangerous, on the Net, to people who are
in difficult times. Be careful. Look for research articles, in refereed
journals, as primary sources. If there's no citation, there's quite likely
no support for the claim.
Algae, pine tree oil, megavitamins, ultraviolet light, etc. are snake oil
in treating seasonal affective disorder -- they don't help, at best. At
worst, ultraviolet light can do permanent, painless, cumulative damage to
your vision. Don't blind yourself trying to feel better. Be careful.
Very bright light -- +10x normal indoor room light, about 1/8 as bright as
outdoors in the shade on a sunny day -- for 30 minutes/day will help SAD.
So do 'dawn simulators' (see Rosenthal).
Starting this time of year -- depth of the dark time -- isn't going to be
a