Most people experience some seasonal fluctuations in their moods or their energy levels, according to Erin Michalak, an assistant professor in the UBC department of psychiatry. She told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview that she noticed this within herself while she was an undergraduate student. For some of us, it might mean suffering low-level depression or gaining five to 10 pounds during winter. Others will find it more difficult to maintain social networks, whereas others might be a little more irritable during the darker months.

These are what’s commonly known as the winter blues, which go away naturally in the spring. “That will be replaced through the summer months by normal mood and, in some people, something more than normal mood,” Michalak said.

A more serious condition, known as seasonal affective disorder, is characterized by major depressive episodes in the fall and winter, according to a 1998 paper published by UBC psychiatry professor Raymond Lam in the medical journal Primary Care Psychiatry. Lam is a pioneer in using light therapy to treat SAD, which is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In recent years, antidepressants have also been used to treat SAD. Michalak, who obtained her PhD studying the prevalence of SAD, noted that the unusual number of grey days this June could be creating difficulties for some people.

“We do need to be exposed to enough intensity of bright light to ward off feelings of winter depression,” she said. “If you’re talking to someone who is quite susceptible to SAD, or, more importantly, susceptible to low light levels, [that person] could be experiencing some lowering of mood after a very prolonged period of grey days.”

Lam noted in his 1998 paper that for some SAD sufferers, the arrival of spring and summer can also bring on episodes of mania or hypomania (a less severe form that doesn’t include psychosis). And this is where things get really interesting from a medical point of view.

Michalak is also a specialist in bipolar disorder. She noted that this is a particularly challenging condition to diagnose—taking 10 years on average—because it can’t be confirmed until there is an episode of mania or hypomania. Michalak said that eight percent of Canadians are affected by bipolar-spectrum disorders, which encompass mild and severe forms.

“It’s really on a continuum in terms of severity,” she said, noting that hypomania is particularly difficult to uncover because those who have it often won’t seek medical attention. This can mask bipolar disorder. She said that any time a person’s mood is elevated to a point where it interferes with an ability to function on the job, in social settings, or in one’s family life, then it has become a problem.

“What’s very interesting is when you look at hospital admission records for people with bipolar disorder, we see a peak in admissions in the spring or in the early summer,” Michalak said. “We think for a lot of people that this is linked to the change in light levels.”

This means that one of the primary treatments for SAD, light therapy, could have negative ramifications for people susceptible to mania. “We don’t encourage people with bipolar disorder Type 1, which is with mania, to use light therapy unless they’re really doing it closely with a physician,” she said.

She noted that for those who are relying on light therapy, the best time to do this is in the early morning. For those who might have other questions about light therapy or SAD, there will soon be an opportunity to get some answers from the experts. The annual meeting of the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms will take place in Vancouver next Thursday to Saturday (June 26 to 28). One of the speakers will be Norm Rosenthal, who coined the term SAD and who is the author of Winter Blues: Everything You Need to Know to Beat Seasonal Affective Disorder (rev. ed. Guilford Press, 2005).

Michalak said researchers (though not Rosenthal) will give oral presentations to the public from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on June 28 at Robson Square.

“Ray Lam is doing light therapy, and I’m doing self-management,” Michalak said.

The public can also learn more about different types of light boxes, and the effects they can have on some forms of depression.