Understanding seasonal depression

Seasonal depression — clinically known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD — is a form of depression that follows a seasonal pattern. For most people it arrives in the autumn and winter as the days grow shorter, and eases in spring. It is more than simply disliking the cold or the dark: the low mood is persistent and affects how you feel, sleep, eat and function.

Many people notice their mood dip a little when the clocks go back and the evenings draw in. For some, though, that dip is far more than a passing flatness. It settles into a genuine depression that returns at the same time each year, lifts as the light comes back, and returns again the following autumn — a pattern that can be exhausting precisely because it is predictable.

Because it is tied to the seasons, SAD is sometimes dismissed as just the “winter blues” or something to push through until spring. But seasonal affective disorder is a recognised form of depression, and the experience of it can be every bit as heavy as depression at any other time of year. Understanding that what you are feeling has a name — and a reason — is often the first step towards doing something about it.

Seasonal affective disorder is thought to be linked to the reduction in daylight during the darker months. Less light appears to affect the part of the brain that regulates mood, sleep and the body clock — which helps explain why the symptoms follow the seasons so closely.

Although it isn’t fully understood, the leading explanation centres on light. Shorter days and less sunlight are thought to disrupt the body’s internal clock, or circadian rhythm, and to affect the production of two important chemicals: melatonin, which influences sleep, and serotonin, which influences mood, appetite and sleep. When these are thrown off by the lack of light, the result can be the heavy, low, oversleeping pattern that characterises winter SAD.

This is also why the things that help often involve light and daily rhythm — getting outside during daylight, keeping a regular sleep and wake time, and in some cases light therapy, which your GP can advise on. Some people are more vulnerable than others: SAD can run in families, is more commonly diagnosed in women, and tends to be more prevalent further from the equator, where winter days are shortest. None of this is a matter of willpower — it is a genuine response to a change in your environment.

If you decide to talk to a counsellor about it, it helps to know that sessions are confidential from the outset. There are limited circumstances where that confidentiality may need to change — for example, if there is a serious risk of harm — and a therapist will explain exactly how this works in advance, before you begin.

Because SAD follows a predictable pattern, one of the most helpful things you can do is put support in place before the season that usually affects you — rather than waiting until you are in the thick of it. Your GP is a good first port of call: they can talk through the full range of options, including light therapy and other approaches, and advise on what might suit you.

Alongside this, many people find talking therapy helpful for the low mood, loss of motivation and sense of dread that the darker months can bring. CBT can help you work with the thoughts and behaviours that low mood tends to reinforce — including the withdrawal and inactivity that can deepen it — while open-ended counselling offers space to understand how the seasons affect you and what helps. Our depression counselling service explains how we work and how to begin, and our depression overview covers the wider picture. Sessions start from £65; see our fees page for details.

Sessions are confidential. There are limited circumstances where confidentiality may need to change — for example, if there is a serious risk of harm to you or someone else — and your therapist will explain these clearly, in advance, before you begin.

A printable overview of our depression counselling service — useful to keep or share.