The way you feel can determine how you navigate everyday situations. However, seasonal mood disorder can make this difficult. Clinically referred to as major depressive disorder with seasonal pattern, commonly known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD) or seasonal depression, this mental health condition impacts your emotional state at certain times of the year. Lightfully Behavioral Health provides care for people experiencing mood disorders, anxiety disorders and more. Read on to learn more about how SAD is linked to your emotional health and how you can manage your symptoms.

Mental health vs. emotional health

Mental and emotional health are two distinct wellness characteristics, but they’re deeply related. Mental health encompasses your overall social, emotional and psychological well-being. It can influence how you think, feel and behave, affecting your ability to make positive decisions, cope with challenges, nurture relationships with other people and more.

Emotional health is an aspect of mental health. It describes your ability to recognize, understand and manage positive and negative feelings. Emotional wellness refers to things like how you feel about yourself or how you handle difficult situations, and it also describes your ability to express your emotions and acknowledge other people’s feelings.

Mental health disorders, like SAD, can disrupt your emotional balance. When this happens, you might find it harder to regulate your feelings, thoughts and actions. 

6 ways seasonal mood disorder disrupts your emotional state

Affecting about 5% of U.S. adults, SAD typically lasts about 40% of the year and coincides with recurrent seasonal patterns. It commonly occurs during the fall and winter months. However, the symptoms of seasonal depression don’t always arise when the weather gets chilly and there’s less sunshine — some people experience summertime depression.

Seasonal depression looks different from person to person, but emotional dysregulation is one of the hallmark signs of this mood disorder. For instance, here are six ways it can impact your emotional health:

1. Sadness — You might feel sad or generally down most of the day, nearly every day.

2. Hopelessness — Your low mood may be accompanied by feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness or helplessness.

3. Less joy — Many people with SAD lose interest in the hobbies and activities they usually enjoy.

4. Agitated or irritated — People with spring- and summer-pattern mood disorder may feel more irritable, restless or frustrated than sad most of the time.

5. Anxiety — Feeling generally stressed and anxious is another common symptom for people with spring- and summer-pattern SAD.

6. Guilt — These mood swings can make you feel guilty about how your emotional state has been affecting your life, your career or your loved ones.

Your emotional health impacts your day-to-day functioning. You may wonder why you’re feeling the way you are at any given moment, have more frequent arguments at home or work, and/or feel overwhelmed by stress and worry. These emotional symptoms may even disrupt your sleeping patterns at night, which can also affect your mood during the day.

What causes seasonal mood disorder?

Researchers are still working to figure out what causes seasonal depression. However, they believe it might have to do with the environment’s effect on your brain chemistry and your normal daily rhythms:

Winter-pattern SAD

Researchers believe that shorter daylight hours may affect serotonin activity and disrupt circadian rhythms, which can contribute to depressive symptoms in winter. When your body has enough of this chemical, you naturally feel happier, calmer and more emotionally stable. Since sunlight aids in serotonin production, shorter daylight hours in the winter may be a factor.

Summer-pattern SAD

Some researchers theorize that summertime depression may be caused by reduced melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle. During longer, hotter days, you may experience sleep disruptions that affect melatonin levels, increasing your likelihood of developing depression.

How to manage your emotional health

Fortunately, you can do many things to combat seasonal depression and manage your emotional health during those times of the year, such as:

• Using a therapy light — Designed to mimic natural sunlight, a therapy light can activate the chemicals in your brain that help boost your mood and support your sleep cycle.
• Practicing healthy habits — Eating healthy, exercising and getting enough rest help support your physical and mental well-being.
• Talking to your therapist — Through psychotherapy, you can learn how to identify and deal with the negative thoughts that contribute to your symptoms.
• Taking medication — Your provider may prescribe an antidepressant that helps treat your depression symptoms.

If you struggle with seasonal mood disorder, reach out to the licensed clinical therapists at Lightfully. We offer four levels of care, and our Short-Term Option is available for each one. It’s ideal for clients with seasonal depression or anxiety. However, people who need therapy over holiday breaks, want to try mental health care for the first time or just need a little extra support can benefit from this option, too.

Healing doesn’t have to wait. Our compassionate experts use evidence-based practices to help you manage your mental health. We can meet with you in person or virtually to accommodate your schedule and unique needs at certain times of the year. Start your treatment journey online with Lightfully’s Virtual Partial Hospitalization Program (vPHP) or Virtual Intensive Outpatient Program (vIOP) today.