SAD... at end of summer?

Hello folks, having a bad week and desperate to get some advice.

I am 34 and I first noticed this when i was 19. I get a mini-depression when summer ends and the nights draw in. Yes, I feel sad that the summer has passed, but it's much more than that.

I feel hopeless, desperately lonely, the dark weighs me down and makes me feel trapped and closed in, I cry a lot in the evenings and around dusk, often crying the whole 20 minute drive home. I feel so empty inside and so scared, scared of winter and how I will make it through.

The daft thing is I LIKE seasons, I am not at all anti-winter, but this time (UK now) just leaves me so lifeless and unsettled and I cry all the blinkin' time!!!

I have spent time, on and off over the years, reading about S.A.D. but what I've read never seems to correlate with my own symptoms. I would welcome any advice or suggestions at all because I broke down in front of my son today and I really need to find a way of dealing with this better. Many thanks!

((((((((Sunny)))))))) I feel that way too, when autumn comes. I get a depression for about a month or two and then it just goes away. Try to spend time with people that you love and who love you. Go out of your house as much as possible, go for long walks in the park and stuff like that. Do things that are usually fun for you and keep busy. Working out (cardio) a few times a week helps as well.

You must be my long-lost sister

Since I've moved to Sweden, I have SAD every year - starts about now, end of September. I think that I react extremely to it *getting* darker. Once it IS dark, about December/January, I start to get better because I got used to it.

I also used to wake up at 3 in the morning in the summer when it gets light here, but that got lots better - hope I'll get less depressions too with time.

i have SAD too. very depressed at moment as autumn/winter comes in. im from uk aswell so i know the feeling

Seasonal depression can start as early as September and last until April as soon as the days start to get shorter that's when they start to usually happen. I've had depression since the age of 16 both clinical and seasonal and i'm 30 now so I can relate. However I've been lucky the last year or more I've been doing wonderful.

Hang in there.

I also live in the UK -- in Scotland -- and I can start to feel a difference as early as late August. Last year was the worst, as it seemed to be rainy and grey from August to mid-December. We've had one of the nicest autumns I've seen since moving here, and while it's not as bad as last year, I've still noticed the changes that I've come to recognise as being associated with SAD. The weird thing is that I've not been very consistent with sitting in front of my light. It's such an easy remedy (though not a complete one), and last year I was probably the most consistent I'd ever been.

Anyway, I hope you're feeling better soon. If you haven't bought a SAD light, might be well worth a try. I think they're still returnable. I do know that they've made a huge difference for me.

Laura

My symptoms start about mid-September, which where I live, is pretty much the beginning of the end of summer. Some years are really tough on me. This year has to be the worst ever. But I had a couple of unpleasant experiences around the same time that did NOT help anything.

But I digress...

I too am always looking for better ways to cope. Sometimes I just make a conscious decision to give up on a day. "Today clearly stinks. It's not getting any better. I'll wake up tomorrow and try again and hopefully it'll improve a little." My biggest problem is actually doing the things that will help. I can't find the strength or motivation to exercise - even though I know it'll help. I generally want to eat junk - I know I shouldn't. I even have a GoLight from Philips - I don't even know where it is right now.

Hey Sunny76,

I know your post was a long time ago, but just wanted to say that I too have SAD that begins very "early" in the summer. In fact, I start noticing the change a couple weeks after the solstice. For years, I'd gone through depressions in mid-summer, not attributing them to seasonal factors--because it didn't make sense at the time. I'm 57 years old now, and it's only within the last 10 years that I began to piece together the idea that my brain begins to respond to the shortening of the days. As the shortening accelerates to the equinox, around September 21, my depression symptoms rapidly get worse, usually peaking in the fall. They tend to start improving slightly around January, and then by early spring, I'm at my best.
It's never easy, but identifying and accepting the patterns seems to help some, as do lifestyle changes (reducing commitments during the fall), light therapy, psychotherapy, medication, exercise, and self-compassion. Wish you the best of health

Yes! Absolutely I feel this way!

I feel each summer slipping away and I know that it will be dark earlier and we will be sick from colds and flu. It will become cold and snowy. Every year I feel this way. I want to move to a warm climate where there is no "fall" or "winter" like the one I know.

What I have done to help myself is come up with the things in the fall and winter months that make me feel good. Like a warm comforter snuggled around me on a cold morning. A hot cup of tea or coffee grasped between my hands warming me. The silence of a snowy day. Warm socks. This helps me cope.

When spring comes I see the first signs right away, like melting ice and longer days and that fills me with so much hope and happiness for the summer to come.

I love swimming, walking, biking and generally being outside. I love the warm spring sun on my face and arms.

I find myself disliking it when the clock 'falls back'. I love the autumn- it is my favorite season! But I don't like it when we make the time change- I hate it getting dark so early. I can deal with it, but when I moved to where I am, it gets darker earlier, in the winter, than I was previously used to, and it was several seasons before I stopped feeling terribly dreary, and sort-of got used to it. Still don't care for it, however.