Can Therapy Help with Seasonal Affective Disorder?
Seasonal Affective Disorder, often referred to by the very apropos acronym SAD, is a specific depression diagnosis. People who struggle with SAD often notice depression symptoms around the same time each year. SAD can occur any time (maybe you’ve heard of the summertime blues), but it is most common in the fall and winter. While the specific cause of SAD is unknown, fall and winter SAD is often linked to the effects of decreased sunlight and lower temperatures. If you experience SAD, you may tell yourself that it will get better in the spring, so there’s no need to seek treatment. After all, you just need to muddle through for a few months. We understand this temptation, but rather than just accepting that you’ll spend several months out of the year feeling tired, moody, and low, you can also consider seeking therapy to help you cope with these feelings and stabilize your mood throughout the year. Keep reading to learn a little more about how therapy can help with seasonal affective disorder.
Is SAD Really a Big Deal?
It can be. Even if you just experience SAD symptoms for a few months out of the year, that’s a few months where you’re not yourself. People who struggle with SAD often experience symptoms like:
- Depressed or low mood that lasts days, weeks, or months
- Irritability or mood swings
- Loss of interest in favorite activities
- Lack of energy
- Sleeping too much or not enough
- Changes in eating or weight
- Difficulty concentrating or remembering things
- Feelings of hopelessness or helplessness
- Lower self-esteem and negative self-talk
- Hyper-focus on thoughts of grief, loss, death, or suicide
How Does Therapy Help with SAD?
Without proper interventions to develop the skills and resilience necessary to regulate these complex emotions, you may find yourself experiencing more intense or prolonged symptoms over the years. Many people believe that therapy won’t help with SAD because it’s just something they have to wait out. Even if your complex emotions related to SAD are likely go away or diminish over time, therapy can still help you stabilize these feelings more quickly. In short, you don’t have to accept SAD as your normal. Therapy for SAD can help you achieve results like:
- Learning healthy skills to cope with feelings of depressed mood and other emotions
- Identifying and understanding negative thinking in order to take steps to change this negative self-talk
- Changing behaviors that increase symptoms of SAD (oversleeping, eating too much, isolating from loved ones)
- Managing stress and anxiety that arise due to worrying about how SAD symptoms impact your day-to-day life
Can I get Started with Therapy Soon?
The LMV Counseling team would be happy to work with you this fall and winter to start developing coping skills and managing the effects of SAD. We make getting started quick and easy. You just need to take a few minutes to complete our online scheduling form. Once we receive your request, one of our team members will be in touch to finalize your visit. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
