Definition
Many people know the indeterminable feeling which the approaching winter can trigger in one. The thought of long, cold nights and short days is everything but pleasant. Actually there is a multiplicity of humans, who become mentally ill in the months November to February year by year.
Such a phenomenon can affect both young and old people and is generally referred to as winter depression. Because of the months in which such a disorder can occur, it should actually be called Autumn-Winter Depression. This can alternatively be used as a term.
Other terms are e.g. Seasonal Depression, Seasonal Dependent Depression or abbreviated SAD. It has been known for many hundreds of years that many people experience a significant drop in mood, but also in performance, during the “dark season”. Everyday life is experienced as dreary and one would prefer to spend the whole day in bed.
Occurrence and distribution
There is very little reliable data on how many people ultimately suffer from winter depression. It is estimated that about 10% of the population regularly show symptoms of the disorder. Women are typically affected 3-4 times more often than men.
Winter depression can occur at any age. However, there seems to be an increased incidence around the 3rd decade of life. There is also evidence that patients who are diagnosed with winter depression in adulthood already showed first symptoms in childhood.
It was also observed that the parents of patients with winter depression often already had depressive symptoms, so that it is being discussed whether hereditary components also play a role in winter depression. The typical months in which winter depression can break out are between the beginning of October and the end of February. The typical symptoms that can occur in the context of the disorder are Sadness or dejection: Patients often report that they find it very difficult to be happy about things that they have always enjoyed.
Hobbies or other pleasant activities are perceived as annoying or exhausting rather than pleasant. In addition, affected persons are often tormented by a great lack of prospects and fear of the future. Tiredness: In contrast to non-seasonal depression, where patients often suffer from massive sleep disturbances, the symptoms of patients with winter depression are often characterized by permanent tiredness.
This is aggravated by the fact that the increased sleep is often not experienced by patients as restful. Social withdrawal: It is becoming increasingly difficult for patients to fulfill their social duties. This includes, for example, professional and family obligations.
Patients often simply no longer have the motivation to present themselves in public in order to carry out their everyday activities. Often, however, they try to appear “normal” at work until the very end for fear of possible negative consequences. Increased feeling of hunger: This point also typically differs from “non-seasonal” depression.
In this type of depression, patients very often suffer from loss of appetite. In contrast, winter depression often leads to an increased feeling of hunger. In this case it is especially sweets or quickly digestible carbohydrates that are eaten preferentially.
Such an eating behavior often results in a significant weight gain, which is experienced by the patients as very stressful. Irritability: In simple terms, “the coat” becomes thinner in patients with winter depression. Little things (noise, quarrels etc.
), with which the patient is still loose in summer, can be experienced as much more stressful. This can lead to wine attacks or even outbursts of rage. “Lust”-lessness: Typically, in any kind of depressive mood, sexual desire or excitability is significantly reduced or even (for the time of depression) lost completely.
- Sadness or dejection, depressed mood
- Tiredness and prolonged sleep duration
- Social Retreat
- Increased feeling of hunger
- Irritability
- “Lust”-lessness (disturbances of the libido)
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