Once winter’s darkness is packed away with the parkas and snow shovels, moods often rise with the earlier sun. For most people, longer days and warmer weather bring the promise of summer adventures, water fun, camping trips and long-awaited vacations.
But for others, “Summertime Sadness” is more than just a song. Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, is not confined to the winter months. For some people, including Stephanie Lehto, PsyD, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, its timing is reversed, bringing the serious depressive disorder during the summer season.
Below, Laura Kelley, media relations professional in the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Office of Communications, speaks with Lehto about this underdiscussed condition that she has and is increasingly seeing in her patients. Lehto explains causes, treatments and symptoms, which can include insomnia and decreased appetite – opposite effects common with its cold-weather counterpart.