If you’re feeling a little blue as the winter drags on, it’s possible you suffer from seasonal depression.
AACC psychology professor Maria Winters, a licensed counselor, said unlike winter blues, seasonal depression affects a student’s daily living for an extended time.
Winters said seasonal depression is diagnosed by psychotherapists as Seasonal Affective Disorder and is known by the acronym SAD.
Winters defined SAD as a sort of depression related to changes of the seasons. It is typically triggered in winter because of less sunlight and shorter days.
“I notice I start to slack off a little bit,” Payton Thompson, a first-year transfer studies student, said. “And I get tired sooner in the day when I feel this pressure like I should be doing something.”
Psychology professor Linda Donovan, a psychotherapist, said SAD is most commonly found in teens and young adults.