Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T10:28:55.000Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Seasonal affective disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a recurrent depressive disorder in which episodes occur at a particular time of year. The most frequent variant is winter SAD in which patients become depressed during the autumn or early winter, with remission or conversion to hypomania the following spring. Recognition of winter SAD is important because the diagnosis predicts a good response to the novel treatment of phototherapy. One other variant, summer SAD, has also been described and we will discuss this condition separately. Otherwise, we will confine our discussion to the winter variant which we will refer to as SAD.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 1997 

References

Avery, D. H., Boite, M. A. P., Cohen, S. et al (1992) Gradual versus rapid dawn simulation treatment of winter depression. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 53, 359363.Google Scholar
Blashko, C. A. (1997) A double-blind placebo controlled study of sertraline in the treatment of out-patients with seasonal affective disorder. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 5, 258.Google Scholar
Blear, M. C. & Rosenthal, N. E. (1989) Seasonal affective disorder and phototherapy. Report of a National Institute of Mental Health sponsored workshop. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 469474.Google Scholar
Dittman, V., Elster, K., Graw, P. et al (1994) Seasonal affective disorder: are the DSM–III–R criteria valid? Psychopathology, 27, 291297.Google Scholar
Garcia-Borreguero, D., Jacobsen, F. M., Murphy, D. L. et al (1995) Hormonal responses to the administration of m-chlorophenylpiperazine in patients with seasonal affective disorder and controls. Biological Psychiatry, 37, 740749.Google Scholar
Kasper, S., Rogers, B., Yancey, A. et al (1989a) Phototherapy in individuals with and without subsyndromal seasonal affective disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 837844.Google Scholar
Kasper, S., Wehr, T., Bartako, J. J. et al (1989b) Epidemiological findings of seasonal changes in mood and behaviour: a telephone survey of Montgomery County, Maryland. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 823833.Google ScholarPubMed
Lam, R. W., Gormon, C. P., Michalon, M. et al (1995) Multicenter placebo-controlled study of fluoxetine in seasonal affective disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 17651770.Google ScholarPubMed
Lam, R. W., Athanasios, P. Z., Grewal, A. et al (1996) Effects of rapid tryptophan depletion in patients with seasonal affective disorder in remission after light therapy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 53, 4144.Google Scholar
Levitt, A. J., Joffe, R. T., Moul, D. E. et al (1993) Side effects of light therapy in seasonal affective disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 650652.Google Scholar
Lewy, A. J., Sack, R. L., Singer, C. M. et al (1987) The phase shift hypothesis for bright light's therapeutic mechanism of action: theoretical considerations and experimental evidence. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 23, 349353.Google Scholar
Lingjaerde, O., Reichborn-Kjennerud, T. & Haggag, A. (1993) Treatment of winter depression in Norway. II: A comparison of the selective monoamine oxidase A inhibitor moclobemide and placebo. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 88, 372380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magnusson, A. & Stefannson, J. G. (1993) Prevalence of seasonal affective disorder in Iceland. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50, 941946.Google Scholar
Magnusson, A. & Axelsson, J. (1993) The prevalence of seasonal affective disorder is low among descendants of Icelandic immigrants in Canada. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50, 947951.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGrath, R. E., Buckwald, B. & Resnick, E. V. (1990) The effect of 1-tryptophan on seasonal affective disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 51, 162163.Google Scholar
Partonen, T & Lonnqvist, J. (1996) Prevention of winter seasonal affective disorder by bright light treatment. Psychological Medicine, 26, 10751080.Google Scholar
Rosen, L. N., Targum, S. D., Terman, M. et al (1990) Prevalence of seasonal affective disorder at four latitudes. Psychiatry Research, 31, 131144.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, N. E., Sack, D. A., Gillin, J. C. et al (1984) Seasonal affective disorder: a description of the syndrome and preliminary findings with light therapy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 7280.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosenthal, N. E., Moul, D. E. & Hellekson, C. J. (1993) A multicenter study of the light visor for seasonal affective disorder: no difference in efficacy found between two different intensities. Neuropsychopharmacology, 8, 151160.Google Scholar
Tam, E. W., Lam, R. W. & Levitt, A. J. (1995) Treatment of seasonal affective disorder: a review. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 40, 457466.Google Scholar
Terman, M., Amira, L., Terman, J. S. et al (1996) Predictors of response and non-response to light treatment for winter depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 14231429.Google Scholar
Terman, M., Terman, J. S., Quitkin, F. M. et al (1989) Light therapy for seasonal affective disorder. Neu ropsychopharmacology, 2, 122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, C. (1989) Seasonality of depression. In Seasonal Affective Disorder (eds Thompson, C. & Silverstone, T.) pp. 117. London: CNS Publishers.Google Scholar
Thompson, C., Stinson, D. & Smith, A. (1990) Seasonal affective disorder and season dependent abnormalities of melatonin secretion by light. Lancet, 336, 703706.Google Scholar
Thompson, C., Raheja, S. K. & King, E. A. (1995) A follow-up study of seasonal affective disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 167, 380384.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, J. B. W., Link, M. J., Rosenthal, N. E. et al (1988) Structured interview guide for the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Seasonal Affective Disorders Version (SIGHSAD). New York: New York Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Winton, F. & Checkley, S.A. (1989) Clinical characteristics of patients with seasonal affective disorder. In Seasonal Affective Disorder (eds Thompson, C. & Silverstone, T.) pp. 5967. London: CNS Publishers.Google ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.