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a disorder in which the mood of the affected person is said to change according to the season of the year. Typically, with the onset of winter, there is depression, general slowing of mind and body, excessive sleeping, and overeating. These symptoms resolve with the coming of spring. The phenomenon may partly account for the known seasonal variation in suicide rates. SADS is not yet generally accepted as a clinical entity and the prevalence is unknown. There is evidence that mood is related to light, which suppresses the release of the hormone melatonin from the pineal gland. Exposure to additional light during the day is said sometimes to relieve symptoms.
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Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia; sudden adult, arrhythmia, or arrhythmic death syndrome.Medical dictionary. 2011.