I Feel SAD In Winter Months I Feel SAD In Winter Months

The antidepressants I take everyday to combat the everyday struggle of depression.Photo by Mya

I would like to start this article by saying that I am not a licensed physician and I am discussing my experience with this disorder. If you feel the need to talk please reach out to a counselor or a medical professional.

Cold. Dark. Lonely. Exactly how I see the winter months, starting from late November all the way to late March.

I thought it was just normal depression because I was diagnosed with severe depression in 7th grade. The funny thing with this though is it only really got worse in the winter months.

I would have mental breakdowns every couple weeks and I did not understand what was going on and neither did my parents.

Finally, enough was enough and my parents took me to my doctor and that was my first time hearing about Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is when your body has a total freak out when the season changes. Sometimes it has to do with the seasons changing and the days getting shorter and it being darker.

There are tons of different symptoms that some experience and others do not. The symptoms I deal with quite a bit are suicidal thoughts, lack of motivation, and oversleeping.

These symptoms affect my everyday life. At this age, suicide is something that many teens face. Right now, as teenagers, suicide is an impulsive decision since that part of the brain is not as fully

Opinion 14 developed. The lack of motivation and the oversleeping play apart in to my suicidal thoughts.

To help combat these symptoms I do light therapy and normal talk therapy. I also take medication to help combat it.

Light therapy is this little box that produces this light that makes you feel better. And no tanning lights, and other lights will not work. You have to do it in the morning for 10 to 15 minutes. So during that time you can brush your teeth or do your make up.

Talk therapy is sitting down and talking to a therapist or someone in that field. I do enjoy talk therapy. It helps me a lot to just be able to sit down and talk to someone that understands and can provide resources.

Another route to take is medication. Currently, I take 150 mg of Sertraline every morning, every month. During the winter months, my psychiatrist has also talked about adding Wellbutrin during the winter months that will give me an extra shot of dopamine aka the happy chemical.

These are all solutions to help combat the issue at hand. A lot of the time the symptoms seem like too much, but there are always options to combat it.

If after reading this article you feel you may have this disorder, please reach out to a counselor or a doctor. Again, I am not a licensed physician, I am just sharing what the disorder is and my struggles with it.