by Gillian Downes,

Your work day is done. It's ten days before Christmas on a grey, blustery, miserable afternoon. As usual, you have opted to join your many fellow, slave-to-the-job-type Torontonians and zip home on the subway. You've decided that it's too cold to do the after work drink-thing with your friends, and besides; you haven't even made it halfway through your Christmas Shopping List. Somehow that seems to be a lingering priority that haunts you as you stare anonymously from your seat on the subway.

Suddenly the screeching subway brakes jerk your attention away from your shopping ideas and render you alert. You realize the train has come to a full stop, only you haven't reached a station.

You know this drill.

As a subway regular, you've grown accustomed to sitting in subway cars in pitch-black tunnels, waiting for a voice to announce through the speaker that everyone will have to disembark; at street level, buses will be waiting to take over the journey the subway couldn't finish.

This time, you figure, you've caught a break. Your train has managed to pull into the next not-so-distant station, so you're only mildly annoyed as you, and thousands of others, trek toward daylight to board a bus that will, at best, get you and countless others home sometime before sunrise.

You're annoyed, but you've got to figure that it's hard for a subway car to continue when there's a battered body stuck to its front.

Headlines, if any of Toronto's many news outlets bother to pick up the story that's become somewhat contrite due to its frequency, would tell a tale of yet another jumper affected by the winter blues, who couldn't take the pressure/loneliness/sadness anymore.

And yes, to many people these winter blues are, well, just that - a general bluesy feeling people get around the holidays. To those affected, however, these winter blues equal Seasonal Affected Disorder (S.A.D.).

S.A.D., a mood disorder that hits fast and furious anywhere from September onwards, is associated with episodes of depression. It offers up symptoms of depression during the winter months, with symptoms generally subsiding in the spring and summer months.

Symptoms include, but are not limited to:

"        excessive eating, cravings for sweet, starchy foods, weight gain during the winter months
"        general feelings of lethargy and fatigue, excessive sleeping
"        feelings of misery and desolation
"        disinterest or decreased interest in sex, physical contact
"        avoidance of social contact
"        general feeling of wellness during spring and summer months, symptoms subside (i.e. "vanish") when the weather changes

Like depression and manic depression, there are different types of S.A.D.: winter depression is the most common type. Another type of S.A.D. is summer depression, the reverse of winter depression, since people who suffer from this type become depressed during the spring and summer months, with symptoms subsiding by winter.
Studies conducted at the University of British Columbia suggest that 1% to 3% of the general population (in Ontario) have S.A.D. Another 15% of people have the "winter blues" or "winter blahs", which are symptoms similar to S.A.D., but not to the point of having a clinical depression. Overall, it is estimated that S.A.D. affects millions of Canadians each winter. It is three to four times more common in women than in men and it usually begins when people are in their twenties; older people are at lower risk. Children can also experience S.A.D., although it is less common. Some people outgrow S.A.D., while for others its affects last a lifetime.

While the cause of S.A.D. is still undetermined, we might begin to understand it by looking to the one thing we all feel a general lack of during the winter months: sunlight. The annual turning back of the clocks in October brings about many polite conversations that begin with comments like: "Wow, I can't believe how early it gets dark these days." The non-S.A.D. sufferer might follow-up that conversation with dinner and a movie with friends, or some other simplistic activity many would think nothing of. The S.A.D.-sufferer, however, might follow-up that conversation by sleeping for endless hours, or going home and indulging in numerous sweets in order to drown some sort of unexplainable sorrow.

Like its not-so-distant cousin, depression, S.A.D. can be treated by various outlets. Phototherapy, or (bright) light therapy, where the patient is exposed to very bright light anywhere from minutes to hours each day has a somewhat proven effect, as do anti-depressants. Anti-depressants, though the seemingly obvious choice of treatment, have side effects that may prove to be more of a hindrance than a help to some patients. Either way, the course of treatment (and diagnosis, for that matter) is something best left to professionals who may choose to ward off symptoms of S.A.D. through a combination of counselling (psychotherapy), phototherapy and anti-depressants.

Symptoms of S.A.D. come back, year after year, and they tend to surface at approximately the same time every year. If you experience feelings of sadness, gloominess and/or despair anywhere from September onwards, you might try the following "home" remedies if the mere thought of therapy and medication makes you cringe:
"        take a daily walk in the winter sunlight
"        find yourself in social surroundings, for example: go window-shopping at a mall, go out  to dinner instead of ordering in, just get outside
"        surround yourself with bright, mood-lifting colours; try wearing a red shirt instead of a black one
"        add light to your living and work spaces
"        switch to a low fat diet and add aerobic exercise to your lifestyle
"        surround yourself with the things that make you happy
Those who are affected by S.A.D. or know someone who has shown signs of S.A.D. should be aware of the outreach services that are available; they stretch beyond the couch of a single psychiatrist.
To learn more about SAD please visit the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) website at www.cmha.ca, the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms at www.sltbr.org, or Healthy Ontario at www.healthyontario.com.