Who gets SAD?
Women account for approximately 65% of all people diagnosed with SAD. SAD is more prevalent in the higher latitudes than in the lower latitudes that receive more sun. Some people who work in offices with little access to natural light may experience SAD all year.
It's extremely rare to find people with symptoms of SAD living within 30 degrees of the equator, where daylight hours are long and extremely bright. But it can affect people anywhere else in the northern and southern hemispheres - from Scandinavia, in the North, throughout Europe, in most of North America and North Asia, and as far as the southern parts of Australia and South America. Some people even get SAD in summer, during dull periods.
Problems with diagnosis
People who have lived near the tropics for part of their lives and then move to this country are more vulnerable to SAD symptoms. There is a view that people from different cultural backgrounds, whose symptoms show up differently, are sometimes misdiagnosed and wrongly told they have schizophrenia or manic depression.SAD can begin at any age, most commonly between 18 and 30, with more people developing it before the age of 21 than after. No-one really knows what triggers it, but in a survey of people with SAD, it was linked to events such as childbirth, hysterectomy or other hormonal upheavals. Of those who took part in the survey, 14 per cent said it had been triggered by a major loss or bereavement and 11 per cent by serious illness, both of which are common triggers of depression.
It's thought that twice as many women as men have SAD, but it's difficult to get an accurate picture. Characteristically, men find it harder to admit to depressive symptoms and are more likely to try to find relief in alcohol and drugs than to go to the doctor. But more men are now recognising their symptoms and seeking treatment.
SAD and postnatal depression
It's been suggested that postnatal depression may be SAD, brought on by the considerable stress of having a baby. If you already suffer from SAD, and are hoping to start a family, spring is probably the best time to have a baby.Children
Children with SAD tend to be irritable, badly behaved and sleepy (finding it difficult to wake up or stay awake), and this may earn them the labels 'lazy' or 'difficult'. If SAD is the cause, and goes undiagnosed, it can have a very negative effect on a child's life and on their future.Research has shown that if you have a close relative with SAD, you are more likely to develop it.
