{"id":7242,"date":"2023-09-07T20:09:37","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T13:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=7242"},"modified":"2023-09-07T20:09:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T13:09:37","slug":"what-to-know-about-preemptive-seasonal-affective-disorder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=7242","title":{"rendered":"What To Know About Preemptive Seasonal Affective Disorder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p> <span class=\"drop-cap__first text-dropcap \">C<\/span>alling all the summer-loving people out there: If you\u2019re having a hard time right now, it\u2019s totally understandable. In fact, you might be going through a form of preemptive seasonal affective disorder.<\/p>\n<p>As summer winds down and September turns into full-blown fall, you might be feeling wistfulness, sadness, even depression. (All those fall fanatics&#8230; who are they?) Psychiatrist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.normanrosenthal.com\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.normanrosenthal.com\/about\/\">Norman Rosenthal, MD<\/a>, one of the original researchers who published on the phenomenon of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/seasonal-affective-disorder-symptoms\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/seasonal-affective-disorder-symptoms\/\">Seasonal Affective Disorder<\/a> (SAD), says anticipating feelings of depression that you experience in winter can be enough to preemptively trigger some of those same feelings in late summer or early fall.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<div class=\"experts-in-article noskim py-[24px] px-[40px]\">\n<p>Experts In This Article<\/p>\n<ul class=\"!ml-[18px]\">\n<li> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.normanrosenthal.com\/about\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.normanrosenthal.com\/about\/\">Norman Rosenthal, MD<\/a>, professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University and a leading expert in Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) <\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<hr\/>\n<p>\u201cThe brain is an amazing thing in terms of anticipating,\u201d Dr. Rosenthal says.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Dr. Rosenthal is allergic to cats\u2014and even seeing a picture of a cat can make him start sneezing. \u201cThe brain has kind of programmed me to recognize that stimulus or cue as one that causes certain kinds of bodily responses,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Rosenthal has observed this phenomenon with patients, too: \u201c[Patients] would say, every time I see those fall ads or mufflers or scarves or autumn colors or autumn leaves, it depresses me, because it makes me anxious because I know what&#8217;s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There could be something biological happening, too. As the days shorten in late summer and early fall, you could start experiencing light deprivation\u2014which causes SAD in the wintertime\u2014much earlier than you might think. Dr. Rosenthal has even experienced this confusing set of emotions himself.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content \" style=\"\" data-module-init=\"related-content\" data-module-immediate=\"\" v-cloak=\"\">\n<div class=\"related-content__wrapper \" v-cloak=\"\" :class=\"{'is-loaded':isLoaded}\">\n<p> <span class=\"inline pr-6 text-seafoam-dark\">Related Stories<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <related-content class=\"related-content__links\" parent-article-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/preemptive-seasonal-affective-disorder\/\" current-title=\"Got the End of Summer Blues? You Could Be Experiencing Preemptive Seasonal Affective Disorder\" current-image=\"preemptive-seasonal-affective-disorder-1.jpg\" v-on:parsely-posts-loaded=\"onPostsLoaded\" start-date=\"2023-03-07\" tag=\"div\" inline-template=\"\" url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/preemptive-seasonal-affective-disorder\/\" secret=\"w5ztterVB03LGZJLfXS0hf3EvQBuFFIWew9hmVQxthU\" apikey=\"wellandgood.com\" limit=\"3\"> <\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"related-content__card mb-[10px] sm:mb-[20px]\" :class=\"{'related-content__card--full':posts.length === 1}\" v-for=\"(post, key) in posts\"> <a v-on:click.prevent=\"trackLinkGA($event, key)\" :href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/preemptive-seasonal-affective-disorder\/post.url\" data-url-source=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content__link\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"\"> <\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content__card--image bg-tan\" :style=\"{ backgroundImage: 'url(' + post.image_url + ')' }\"> <img :src=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/preemptive-seasonal-affective-disorder\/post.image_url\" :alt=\"post.title\"\/> <\/div>\n<p> <\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <\/related-content> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI wake up now in the morning and I&#8217;m kind of feeling what I call a \u2018light hunger,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cI was standing outside and thinking, this is really paradoxical. There are trees blooming and the flowers are blooming, and here I am hungry for the light.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The anticipation and the lack of light could be working in concert in your subconscious\u2014lower levels of light exposure could be making you feel preemptively anxious about the coming winter, in a way that might be difficult to recognize.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNobody comes with a sign saying you&#8217;re feeling anxious because the light is getting less,\u201d Dr. Rosenthal says. \u201cOne often misinterprets what&#8217;s going on, so you can get a biological anxiety triggered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The best way to hedge against anticipatory anxiety is preparation, preparation, preparation. Take walks as early as you can in the morning to get the most potent sunlight, and Dr. Rosenthal suggests getting a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/sad-lamps\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/sad-lamps\/\">light box\/light therapy lamp<\/a> in early fall, and making sure there\u2019s a part of your house where you can soak up the light. Knowing you have the tools to combat wintertime SAD can help make the end of summer feel less heavy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you know how to handle it, it&#8217;s tremendously empowering and the whole fear of the winter coming on or anxiety around it is diminished,\u201d Dr. Rosenthal says.<\/p>\n<p>That said, if early fall is a tough time of year for you, know that you\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the scope of people who could use more light as the days get shorter is much greater than what we widely recognize.\u201d Dr. Rosenthal says. So make the most of the waning rays, and try to imbue the future months with excitement, something to look forward to, and plenty of light, too.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1675549\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Calling all the summer-loving people out there: If you\u2019re having a hard time right now, it\u2019s totally understandable. In fact, you might be going through a form of preemptive seasonal affective disorder. As summer winds down and September turns into full-blown fall, you might be feeling wistfulness, sadness, even depression. (All those fall fanatics&#8230; who &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}