If someone has the winter blues, it might be more serious than they thought.
Psychology senior Devika Patil said although she loves the winter season, she sees how other people might get depressed and have trouble coping.
“I think the juxtaposition of cold months and family-centered holidays is interesting,” Patil said.
Cynthia Manzano, clinical social worker and counselor for Counseling and Psychological Services, said that seasonal affective disorder, also known as winter blues or seasonal depression, is a type of depression that generally occurs from October to April. The disorder affects millions of Americans, 3 in 4 of them being women and usually starting around age 20.
Manzano said this depression tends to occur in those at higher latitudes with longer winters. Decreased sunlight and daytime hours are also a factor in seasonal depression because people don’t have as much exposure to light, Manzano said.
“The difference between seasonal affective disorder and what someone would be experiencing if they had typical depression, would be associated with those months of the year where there’s colder months, usually associated with a lot more increase in darkness throughout the day,” Manzano said.
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