Coping with Seasonal Affective Disorder

According to the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario 5% of Canadians struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder and 15% with Winter Blues. Symptoms can include low energy, low motivation, increased drowsiness, and feelings of hopelessness. Melrose (2015), explains Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) as a recurrent depression with a seasonal pattern, and winter blues as having symptoms of SAD but does not meet the criteria for diagnosis. Research has shown some of the most effective forms of treatment are medication, light therapy, vitamin D and counselling/therapy. Here I share three ways of coping with Seasonal Affective Disorder:  

1. Light Therapy. Corliss (2022) from Harvard Health shares how light therapy can help improve SAD, and how it works including typically using a light box that emits 10 000 lux (a measure of light intensity) for 30 minutes every morning as soon as possible after wake up. It is also recommended to use this under the guidance of a trained healthcare professional.
2. Nutrition & Supplements. These are both key to wellbeing and mental health, and to no surprise also for helping reduce the symptoms of depression and SAD. In this article I share 5 nutrition and supplement considerations.  
3. Counselling or Therapy. The Canadian Psychological Association the most widely recommended psychotherapy for SAD is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which helps the patient explore current and possible life style options, and helps individuals focus on immediate thoughts, moods, and behaviours related to the symptoms to be broken down and made more manageable. Other approaches include counselling and psychodynamic therapies.

If you need additional support reach out to me, I am Nicole Levy, and I am here as your helping hand, let’s get started, book your complimentary no pressure initial consult https://www.mindfulhealingjourney.ca/#/.