Then you are back where you started, feeling empty in the middle of cold, dark winter," said Aharon Miller, a clinical professional counselor in private practice and at Sinai Hospital of LifeBridge Health in Baltimore.
Holidays, especially, can intensify SAD, often because they trigger thoughts of family who may not be around - not to mention, "The holidays come and go before you know. " asked, 'Were there a lot of people around? How did it make you feel? Why are you if you know it's not healthy for you?' This helps me recognize I am not thinking things through before acting," said Bigby Cunningham. Through therapy, Bigby Cunningham recognized she'd jumped to a conclusion that her car had been stolen, then wouldn't consider the possibility that the others were right and she was mistaken out of embarrassment.
It's this kind of skewed thinking the therapy helps correct. "I thought that everybody was thinking something contrary to what I was positive I knew. "Everyone suggested I went out the wrong door - the vending space coordinator, security and Baltimore police, who I called because I thought someone stole my car," she said, recalling that she worked herself into a major frenzy. Between her trouble concentrating and social anxiety, she became so overwhelmed that she lost her keys and car. But there's more to tackle this time of year, she said, recalling a blustery afternoon when she was in a jam-packed mall selling her books. It was like when I have lost a loved one, but now it's whenever there's little or no sun."ĭuring cognitive behavioral therapy sessions, Bigby Cunningham's therapist asks her to pay special attention to the decisions she makes and why. I had a heaviness in my chest that wouldn't move and an emptiness in my gut. I would boo-hoo often and did not know why. "I couldn't concentrate or follow basic instructions. "It became not enough when SAD hit," she said. People may have a diminished sex drive, anxiety, irritability and trouble concentrating, said Brandt.īefore she developed SAD, Bigby Cunningham was taking antidepressants and exercising about five times a week to try to shake her depression.
Common symptoms are a down mood, low energy and social withdrawal. SAD typically takes hold from fall through winter and correlates with the days getting shorter. "So we focus on less topics because I don't have the energy and have a harder time getting the words out." "Once I feel the days getting shorter … I have to deal with the fact that doing anything at all is overwhelming," she said. Bigby Cunningham had participated in cognitive behavioral therapy for years, but the focus changed when she developed SAD.
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