SAD in the Summer? Yes, You Can Have Seasonal Affective Disorder in the Summer

“Summertime and the living is easy.” Amen to that. I love summer. Credit it to spending much of my childhood in Florida, but I actually like being hot and sweaty. My absolute favorite place to be is on a beach with sun on my face and my toes digging into hot sand. I crave and need sunshine like a growing plant. And I think it’s safe to say that most of the population is the same way. Just think about how many people you’ll see laying outside on the grass on the first warm day in spring.

I, along with a fair number of other people, suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) (also known as Major Depressive Disorder with a Seasonal Pattern, or MDD-SP) in the winter, which is thought to be caused by a lack of sunlight. In the northern hemisphere’s winter, the days are shorter and tend to be darker. Because of chilly temperatures, people spend less time outside and get less direct exposure to sunlight. Ergo, less sunlight. Symptoms of winter MDD-SP tend to consist of not only the usual symptoms of depression but also an increase in fatigue, appetite, and sleep and a craving for carbohydrates.

A Subset of MDD-SP

However, there is a small subset of the people (about 10%) suffering from MDD-SP whose worst time of year is the summer. In many ways, the summer version is the flip side of the winter version. It begins in late spring or early summer and abates in late fall or early winter. The symptoms are essentially the complete opposite of winter MDD-SP. People with summer MDD-SP often have anxiety and irritability (or outright anger), insomnia and decreased appetite.

Unfortunately, the cause of MDD-SP is even more of a mystery than that of winter MDD-SP, likely due to the lack of research. However, it’s believed that it may go beyond exposure to the rays of the sun to include a rise in body temperature. This theory is supported by anecdotal evidence of sufferers obtaining temporary relief by staying out of the sun and keeping cool using air conditioning or cold packs.

The risk factors may be:

• • Being female.
  • Living close to the equator.
  • Having a relative who has MDD-SP.
  • Having Bipolar Disorder.
  • The season that you’re born in.

Diagnosis and Treatment

So what do you do if you recognize that you or someone you know has summer SAD? Unfortunately, it’s possible that the biggest obstacle you’ll face in dealing with your summer SAD is getting it formally diagnosed. Most knowledgeable general practitioners are familiar with winter SAD, but summer SAD is unlikely to be recognized without your educating them, and even then they might be skeptical. Your best bet is probably an experienced psychiatrist or psycho-pharmacologist for successful treatment.

The good news is that keeping cool and out of the sun might alleviate your symptoms if you do have summer SAD. Keep a log of sun exposure and temperature. Try lowering your body temperature with cold packs to see if it makes a difference. Good record keeping might sway the opinion of even a skeptical mental health professional.