Caitlin Whyte (Host): Welcome to Hally HealthCast, the wellness podcast from Hally Health, your partner in helping you live your healthiest life. Every episode on our podcast addresses a new topic, important to your health and wellbeing, bringing in doctors, specialists, and other health experts who offer advice and answer your most pressing questions.

Today's episode is all about seasonal depression. December is Seasonal Depression Awareness Month, so it's the perfect time to learn more about seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, S-A-D, and the various ways to identify and treat its symptoms. Here with us today is Steve Edwards.

He's a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and the Care Coordination Supervisor for Care Transition Intervention at Health Alliance in Champaign. Welcome, Mr. Edwards, and thank you so much for being with us and sharing your knowledge.

Well, let's begin by addressing any diehard skeptics among our listeners who might question whether seasonal depression or seasonal affective disorder is even a real thing. So, Mr. Edwards, is there really a form of depression that occurs mainly during specific times of the year? And how do you know if you have it?

Steve Edwards, MSW, LCSW: Great question. Absolutely. Seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression that is related to changes in seasons. This typically happens in the fall season, though there can be people who experience it in the summer and spring as well. But it's typically the fall and winter time when the sun isn't out as much and things feel a lot more gloomy, we'll start to hear people experiencing symptoms of depression.

What that may look like though, differs. Some typical symptoms of seasonal depression would be having low energy or feeling sluggish, having problems with sleeping, so that would be sleeping too much or not sleeping enough, experiencing some carb cravings or overeating, so weight gain might be something that you might see, having some difficulty with concentrating, feeling hopeless, worthless, or guilty, or having thoughts of not wanting to live. So that typically impacts people in the fall months.

Host: Absolutely. I know for myself, once I start seeing that sunset around like five, 4:30 up here in the North, it really gets to me. So thank you for that terrific answer. And it sounds like seasonal depression, you know, it's not only very real, but it can be a pretty serious problem. So how do we avoid falling into that deep, dark annual funk, whether it is fall or spring, whatever time of year, and what can we do to get out of it if we're already in there?

Steve Edwards, MSW, LCSW: So if we're trying to avoid getting into a slump, I think everything is about awareness, having the awareness of whether or not you're experiencing depression, and how do we build that awareness, right?

One way to build awareness around having seasonal depression or any other mental health disorder is going to be knowing the signs and symptoms. And a good tool that I encourage people to use is Mental Health America. They have questionnaires that you can utilize, take tests and it'll give you answers or insight on whether or not you experienced some symptoms.

And if you do something like that, you'd want to of course, talk to your medical provider. For a lot of people, it's just their primary care provider; whether it's an APRN, MD, or something to that effect. If you feel like you're having those symptoms or you're feeling sluggish and you just don't know what it is, please reach out to your medical provider and that would be the great first step.

Another option is if you're not in therapy, you can find a therapist to try to figure out, well, what's going on? I've been really having these feelings of feeling sluggish, feeling sad, or another tip to gaining awareness is using a mood tracking app. One app that I suggest people use is called Daylio, and that's D-A-Y-L-I-O, and that allows you to track your mood.

So having awareness of your mood patterns will certainly allow you to be more equipped with managing what I call riding the wave of depression.

Host: Mm. Absolutely. Excellent advice there, Mr. Edwards. Thank you so much for sharing. Is there anything else you would like to add? How can we find help if we need it? You know, maybe we just need that extra boost that we can't get from doing it ourselves.

Steve Edwards, MSW, LCSW: Sure. One of the things that we want to do is that we want to again, talk to a medical provider. Some people may want to talk about medication treatment options. If they're going to therapy, talk to the therapist about what other treatment options. So cognitive behavioral therapy is something that people tend to use to kind of help manage depression and anxiety.

And so that could be a good modality to try out if you're experiencing depression, to kind of help get motivated again to get into those things, challenging those negative thoughts that one may have and things of that nature.

Host: Thank you, Mr. Edwards, for that helpful and valuable information. I'd be interested in hearing more about how the mental health providers you mentioned treat seasonal affective disorder. In fact, I've heard that light itself can be an effective treatment for seasonal depression. So what can you tell us about bright light therapy? How does it work, and how effective is it?

Steve Edwards, MSW, LCSW: Sure. Bright Light Therapy is a treatment for depression. It involves exposure with a light box, and that light box emits a strong light onto people, mimicking the sun. And the goal is to increase levels of serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter associated with happiness and wellbeing. And so light therapy can improve mood and reduce depressive symptoms, and it can also be done independently or in conjunction with antidepressants.

Host: Wow, that is so fascinating Mr. Edwards. You've definitely shed some much needed light on this topic. And just in time, as we're already into that time of year of shorter days, diminished daylight, and, oof, colder weather. Do you have any other suggestions for us on how to avoid or alleviate seasonal depression as we head into the winter months?

Steve Edwards, MSW, LCSW: Absolutely. The most important thing really is to kind of set a routine. Keeping track of your mood and gaining awareness is the big key, but also if you know what your mood patterns are, you can set a routine and kind of get ahead of it. So setting a consistent routine, eating well, talking to your support system, and that support system can be a family member or friend,

religious institutions, things of that nature to kind of really help you stay grounded, setting that routine, especially as exercising and things of that nature can really help boost your mood and keep you in the great space to ride the wave of depression.

Host: Ride the wave of depression. I love that. Thank you, Mr. Edwards. I'm feeling more positive already. Okay, so last question for you. Circling back to the theme of this month and this podcast, what main message would you communicate to our audience about seasonal depression? What should all of us be aware of about seasonal affective disorder?

Steve Edwards, MSW, LCSW: The main thing that we want to do is gain awareness. Awareness is the biggest thing to help us combat depression or any other mental health disorder where applicable. By gaining awareness, you can really be empowered to manage depression. So doing self questionnaires on like a website like Mental Health America.

Talking with your provider about those symptoms that you may experience, that sluggish feeling, that down feeling, sleeping too much, overeating, and not having really an explanation as to why are you feeling the way that you do, or even thoughts of wanting to harm yourself and not be alive anymore.

Those are going to be really key indicators that you want to talk to somebody about it. You want to tap into your support system, using mood tracking apps such as Daylio can be really helpful. And again, try to ride the wave of depression and know that it'll be better on the other side.

Host: Wonderful wrap up, Mr. Edwards. You've been an absolute pleasure to have on our podcast. Thank you so much for joining us and for all that you do every day at Health Alliance for so many people and families. That concludes today's Hally HealthCast. Tune in next time as we tackle yet another topic important for your health and well being.

And remember, Hally Health is your partner in helping you live your healthiest life. Visit hally.com, that's H-A-L-L-Y.com for resources, information, tips, and much more. Let us help keep you and your family healthy and well. Thanks for listening. We hope you tune in again.