How to help your child with Seasonal Affect Disorder (SADs)
“Be patient and understanding regarding how hard this time is for them and how difficult it feels to be highjacked by brain chemistry.”
Parenting through this time of year can bring its own challenges as your child or teen may have some bigger feelings, a harder time transitioning, or a lowered mood. While it may seem more applicable to make these adjustments for ourselves, it may be helpful to understand how you can set up your child's environment to ease them through the fall and winter seasons, changes in activity levels, and lack of exposure to sunlight. Let this blog be a guide for anyone who is going through SADs or Seasonal Affect Disorder specifically those who are caring for a child or teen during this time of the year.
Let’s start with a definition of Seasonal Affect Disorder (SAD’s). SAD’s for short is a term to label the symptoms of depression which come up in the fall and winter months as the days get shorter and there is more darkness with less exposure to light. SAD’s is caused by two neurochemicals in the brain Melatonin and Serotonin. Melatonin is triggered for release when it is dark and causes us to feel sleepy and have lower amounts of energy. Serotonin is linked to mood and energy where higher levels of serotonin cause us to feel happier and good about ourselves while lower amounts of serotonin cause sadness and lower amounts of energy.
Signs to Watch For Are:
Changes in Mood: which include an increase in sadness, depression, irritability, hopelessness, discouragement, worthlessness, crying, or getting upset easily.
Negative Thinking: being self-critical, more sensitive to criticism, complaining more often, blaming others for feelings or mistakes, finding fault with others, seeing more problems than usual.
Lack of Enjoyment: loss of interest in things usually enjoyed, loss of interest in spending time with friends and no longer participating in social events.
Low Energy: more tired, lack of motivation, and feeling as if everything requires a high amount of effort.
Changes in Sleep: sleeping more than usual and finding it hard to get up in the morning.
Changes in Eating: craving carbohydrates, overeating, and possible weight gain.
Trouble Concentrating: hard to focus on grades and schoolwork can be impacted.
How to treat SAD’s first talk to your doctor or therapist about the symptoms and concerns you are having. Also, talk to your child in a curious manner without judgment or shame. This is something they do not have any control over, so impatience and anger will not make anything better.
Treatment can include:
Light therapy: more exposure to light will increase the production of serotonin and decrease the production of melatonin. You can buy full spectrum light bulbs and add them to your current lighting and take daily walks outside when there is sunlight.
Counseling: start counseling or bring up the concerns with your child’s current counselor to plan for coping with symptoms and explore specific ways you can provide support. It is also important for your child to process the feelings of fatigue, loneliness, low sense of self, and sadness. Giving your child knowledge about what is happening in their brain and what they can do to manage it can bring a sense of control around something that feels out of control. A therapist can help with all these concerns.
Medications: You can talk to your child’s primary care doctor or psychiatrist for medication to support their mood during the fall and winter months. Antidepressant medications impact serotonin levels and can combat the symptoms of SAD’S.
As a parent, you can be supportive in noticing symptoms and bringing them up in a kind and curious manner. You can be an active part of your child’s treatment while evaluating what is working and what might need to be changed as the season progresses. Also, recognizing this will likely continue year after year so planning ahead of time can save some strife. Educate yourself and your child about SAD’s and normalize how brain chemistry works so your child does not feel broken or wrong in some way. Encourage your child to spend time outside and exercise to boost neurochemistry. Offer to walk with them and make outside time something important for you both. Spending quality time with your child can also help combat the feelings of sadness, loneliness, and low motivation to engage in social activities. You can plan something they enjoy doing outside the home or with friends to boost their participation in social events. If they are unable to go out stay in and watch a movie with them, make their favorite snack, and just let them know they are important and matter. Be patient and understanding regarding how hard this time is for them and how difficult it feels to be highjacked by brain chemistry. Help support them with schoolwork by advocating with teachers and administration if needed. Communicate with the school counselor and you can even reach out with permission to their friends to call in extra support. Don’t apply pressure around schoolwork and realize when the treatment is more effective and symptoms decrease, they will get caught up. Applying pressure just adds anxiety and can make the other symptoms worse. Creating routines for waking, sleep, homework, walks, and healthy meals can also be supportive. Most important, notice and take it seriously. Your child is not lazy or trying to get attention. They do not have control over their brain chemistry so seek out professional help for a diagnosis and then jump into action for support in the ways your child needs.
Good luck in making these changes,
Penney