Seeing friends was normally the highlight of Kendra Sands’ week. One night in January 2018, she had plans to meet two for dinner, but instead, Ms. Sands, who lives in Charlotte, N.C., crawled into bed. She wanted to go out, but she was stuck in a dark room, sobbing.
“I forced myself to put on different clothes, touch up my makeup and get in the car,” she said. “But driving to the restaurant, I realized hibernating in bed had been a pattern for weeks.”
Sands initially blamed PMS for the crying episodes, but after a month she still had no relief. After asking about her mental health pattern in previous years, Ms. Sands’ therapist eventually diagnosed her with seasonal affective disorder. “I knew I didn’t like the cold or dreariness of winter, but I never thought I had a form of depression,” Ms. Sands said.
According to Vaile Wright, senior director of health care innovation and practice directorate at the American Psychological Association, seasonal affective disorder (S.A.D.) is a type of major depression. What makes S.A.D. unique is its timing: “It has a distinct seasonal onset, typically in winter, and a spontaneous remission of symptoms,” she said.