Summertime SADness

Seasonal affective disorder is increasingly recognised but for some it's summer, not winter, that brings on low mood and depression 

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We associate summer with being happy, positive and having a great mindset,” says John Junior. “You would think that low mood wouldn't affect you in the summertime, but it does.”

Junior is one of a growing number of people who struggle with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) during summer. The condition, first identified by psychologist Norman Rosenthal in 1984, is usually associated with winter, with sufferers complaining of low mood and depression as it gets colder and the days become shorter. Research by BUPA suggests three in 100 people will suffer from SAD in their lifetime, with most people getting their first symptoms during their 20s and 30s.

However, while winter SAD is increasingly understood and accepted as a condition, summer SAD remains opaque, unknown and often misunderstood. Those who have it report battling with insomnia, weight loss and suicidal thoughts.

“It’s like I have a persistent low mood in the summer and a loss of interest in things,” adds Junior. “I feel worthless, despairing and have a lack of energy, no matter if I go to the gym and eat well. This always happens in the summer. It never happens in the winter. I don’t know why.”

Junior, nominated for a BAFTA for a short film he made with the team behind Hollyoaks – after he revealed how a storyline in the show about suicide helped prevent him from taking his own life – has become an advocate in raising awareness around summer SAD. It’s an issue, he says, that many people still struggle to get their heads around.

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