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Behavioral Activation
Targets Depression
Requiring minimal training to administer, behavioral activation presents an inexpensive short-term intervention that effectively treats mild, moderate, or even severe depression. Read more »
Weighing the Benefits
and Risks of Statins
Health care professionals must assess both the benefits and risks associated with statin therapy, the most widely prescribed class of medications used to lower cholesterol. Read more »
ACE Units Improve
Complex Patient Management
The ACE model of care has been shown to improve outcomes for hospitalized elders while reducing costs for hospitals. Because this model is low tech and high touch, development also is low cost but requires thoughtful planning and interdisciplinary leadership support. Read more » |
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A recent study indicates that seasonal affective disorder, also known as SAD, may not be as pervasive in causing depression as once believed. The winter blues may have little to do with the season and result instead from the typically curtailed activities and cabin-fever perceptions associated with winter.
Of course, the research doesn't negate the depression caused by SAD but rather indicates that its influence and causation of winter depression may be somewhat overestimated. Nevertheless, researchers emphasize the importance of encouraging treatment for depression, whether or not it stems from SAD.
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— Barbara Worthington, editor |
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Winter Depression Not as Common
as Many Think
In a study recently published online in the Journal of Affective Disorders, researchers found that neither time of year nor weather conditions influenced depressive symptoms. However, lead author David Kerr, PhD, an assistant professor of psychological science at Oregon State University, says this study does not negate the existence of clinically diagnosed seasonal affective disorder (SAD) but instead shows that people may be overestimating the impact seasons have on depression in the general population.
"It is clear from prior research that SAD exists," Kerr says. "But our research suggests that what we often think of as the winter blues does not affect people nearly as much as we may think."
Kerr says the majority of studies of seasonal depression ask people to look back on their feelings over time. "People are really good at remembering certain events and information," he says. "But unfortunately, we probably can't accurately recall the timing of day-to-day emotions and symptoms across decades of our lives. These research methods are a problem."
So Kerr and his colleagues tried a different approach. They analyzed data from a sample of 556 community participants in Iowa and 206 people in western Oregon. Participants completed self-report measures of depressive symptoms multiple times over a period of years. These data then were compared with local weather conditions, including sunlight intensity, during the time participants completed the reports.
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