Friday, September 14, 2018

Trails Carolina - How Changing Seasons Spark Mood Disorder in Teens

If the change in season starts affecting the mood of your teen, it might be possible they are suffering from the seasonal affective disorder (SAD). People with this disorder usually experience mood swings and symptoms related to depression. This is a form of seasonal depression that often occurs in the fall and winter months when there is minimum sunlight and generally improves with the spring season. In the US, the January and February are the difficult months for people with SAD, while some people also experience this change in the summer.


The symptoms of SAD can be distressing and can also interfere with daily life and functioning. However, this disorder can be treated through different therapies and medication. Trails Carolina helps your teen to recover from this issue by letting them experience various therapies. This usually lasts about 40% of the year.

As the season change, people start to experience a shift in their circadian rhythm or biological internal clock that causes them to outcast with their daily routine. SAD is generally associated with a biochemical imbalance in the brain that is driven by minimum sunlight and shorter daylight hours. The people, who are living far from the equator, often have symptoms of SAD because of the fewer daylight hours in the winter season.

Symptoms of the seasonal affecting disorder

Symptoms can vary from mild to major, including:
•    Feeling of sadness,
•    Depressed mood,
•    Feeling worthless,
•    Increased fatigue,
•    Feeling guilty,
•    Self-harm,
•    Changes in appetite,
•    The sleeping disorder generally sleeping too much,
•    Trouble in concentrating or making decisions,
•    Restlessness or slowed movements and speech,
•    Marked loss of interest in activities once enjoyed,
•    Suicidal attempts,
•    Feeling stressed or anxious,
•    Becoming less sociable,
•    Low self-esteem.

Attributes that may increase SAD

•    Being female:  SAD is diagnosed more in women than men.
•    Family history: People with a family history of depression can be diagnosed with SAD than those who don’t.

Treatment

There are a number of ways to treat SAD, including light therapy, wilderness therapy, conversational therapy, antidepressant medication or combination of all these. While the change in season will generally help in improving the symptoms but they can be quickly improved with treatment.

The exact causes of this disorder are unidentified, but the researchers found that the people with seasonal depression may have a serotonin imbalance that affects the mood. Their bodies produce an excessive amount of melatonin, a hormone, which regulates sleep, and not enough vitamin D.

Increased exposure to sunlight can be helpful for some people to improve the symptoms of SAD. Involving in activities like exercise, staying active, healthy eating, enough sleep can be helpful in taking care of health and wellness. Though the main treatment for the seasonal disorder is light therapy. As the idea behind this therapy is, to replace the sunlight that was missed during the fall and winter season.

The seasonal affective disorder in teens is termed with depression or bipolar disorder. Trails Carolina can help your teen struggling with this disorder. In some cases, change in environment can also result in healing with seasonal depression.

No comments:

Post a Comment