SAD? You may have it

As the days become shorter, colder and darker, so does Jerad McFarlin's mood. Like many stressed students at the end of the fall semester, The U of M senior's blues increase as the weather deteriorates. But instead of letting lethargy and lack of motivation get the better of him, he sits down at his work desk and flips the lamp switch. A light therapy bulb brightens the room, and after 20 minutes, McFarlin's spirits lift. He gets back to work with a renewed sense of vigor and concentration.

Light therapy bulbs are most often used to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, a form of depression that appears at the same time each year. People with SAD will usually experience symptoms of depression in the approaching winter months as the days become shorter. They then return to their usual emotional and physical state in the spring, according to mayoclinic.com. While no formal cause for the disorder has been determined, many experts link it to circadian rhythm, melatonin and serotonin levels, which fluctuate with the seasons. Circadian rhythm is a process that regulates the sleep cycle. Melatonin is a hormone linked with depression that usually increases during long winter nights, and serotonin is a brain chemical that drops with lack of sunlight and is believed to affect a person's mood.

McFarlin uses a BlueMax brand dawn simulating lamp, priced at about $150, because his mom bought a kit for herself and had an extra lamp. Having a parent with SAD is listed as a risk factor on mayoclinic.com, along with living in northern altitudes. Although McFarlin has never been diagnosed with SAD, he is a firm believer in the therapy and works under the bulb every day, rain or shine, but particularly on the dreariest of days.

"I don't seem to have as much energy as I would on a sunny day," said McFarlin. "It's harder to get going in the morning, my mind is cloudy, kind of like. Low motivation and physically-all I want to do is lay in bed all day."

Trying to show a link between our lifestyles and mental health, one U of M student suggested that cases of depression would drop if people practiced some of the habits of their evolutionary ancestors. Last year, graduate student Chris Heath surveyed almost 500 students, looking for a link between mental health and factors like sunlight exposure, omega-3 intake, sleep and exercise. Heath was looking for a comprehensive link between the factors, but the results of the survey were mostly inconclusive. However, past research has shown the individual factors, which can be found in his paper online at http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/ep066776.pdf. Heath's project adviser, Jeffrey Berman, said a number of studies have found that individuals who get a varietiey of artificial sunlight or light that is in the spectrum of the sun report a greater reduction in psychological distress than individuals who don't receive the therapy.

"I think not everybody is aware of that evidence," he said, "and not everybody in the field of psychology is knowledgeable about that avenue of treatment."

McFarlin's grades suffer in the fall semester, dropping from A's and B's to B's and C's. His grades reflect The University's cumulative GPA numbers for each semester over the past five years. Since 2002, undergraduate grades in the fall semester have never surpassed the spring, and it has only happened once for law and graduate students, according to the Office of Institutional Research. Yet, clinical psychologist Meghan McDevitt-Murphy warns against attributing the grade drop to a singular cause.

"Think about enrollment numbers and freshman adapting to college," said Mcdevitt-Murphy, an assistant professor in the psychology department.

Other factors could be the number of classes offered each semester, and a person's improvement of study skills after having college course experience, she said. McDevitt-Murphy is skeptical of diagnosing someone with SAD, because it is not formally recognized as its own disorder in the diagnostic and statistical manual, or DSM, which is renewed every ten years or so.

"It's normal to feel down a day or two here or there, or during some period of adjustment, especially when you first get to college," she said.

However, she said, having trouble getting to class and losing all motivation would be good reasons to seek help. She also said the current debate over SAD was whether it should be described as a variant of other mood disorders or something different.

"That fact should not stop people who notice a seasonal disruption in their mood from seeking help if they are distressed," she said.

The University of Memphis psychological services center's Web site has a link to www.mentalhealthscreening.org, where anxiety and depression can be self-examined by completing an online quiz. Students can receive free counseling from services in Wilder Tower. Fees for treatment from the Psychological Services Center are charged on a sliding scale based on income.

McDevitt-Murphy said she also questioned whether the results of light therapy studies could be trusted because of the placebo effect it might have on users.

"A lot of things out there are marketed to make you feel better, give you more energy and its hard to know how much of their efficacy is due to the placebo effect," she said.

Looking for some free solutions for seasonal depression? McDevitt suggests mood-lifting activities like "exercise, eating right, good sleep habits, social interaction, pleasant events, and avoiding alcohol, caffeine and nicotine - and, potentially, actual sunshine."

As the days become shorter, colder and darker, so does Jerad McFarlin's mood. Like many stressed students at the end of the fall semester, The U of M senior's blues increase as the weather deteriorates. But instead of letting lethargy and lack of motivation get the better of him, he sits down at his work desk and flips the lamp switch. A light therapy bulb brightens the room, and after 20 minutes, McFarlin's spirits lift. He gets back to work with a renewed sense of vigor and concentration.