Q. What causes SAD?
A. The group of symptoms which doctors and therapists use to diagnose
depression ("depressive symptomns"), which includes the important
proviso that the symptoms have manifested for more than a few weeks
and that they are interfering with normal life, are the result of an
alteration in brain chemistry. This alteration is similar to temporary,
normal variations in brain chemistry which can be triggered by illness,
stress, frustration, or grief, but it differs in that it is self-sustaining
and does not resolve itself upon removal of such triggering events (if
any such trigger can be found at all, which is not always the case.)
SAD is characterised by the sufferer living a "normal," healthy life
during the summer months, but crashing into a depressive episode during
the autumnal and winter season. Frequently, the depressive phases sets
in around September or October, and will recede in May or June. A
recurrent pattern of depression during winter and good health during
summer is very suggestive of SAD.
Due to the risk of suicide, SAD must be thought of as a potentially
fatal illness if left untreated. Friends and relatives may be deceived by
the casual way that profoundly depressed people speak of suicide or
self-mutilation. They are not casual because they "don't really mean it";
they are casual because these things seem no worse than the mental pain
they are already suffering. Any comment such as, "You'd be better off if
I were gone," or "I wish I could just jump out a window," is the
equivalent of a sudden high fever; the depressed person must be taken to
a professional who can monitor their danger. A formulated plan, such as,
"I'm going to jump in front of the next car that comes by," is the
equivalent of sudden unconsciousness: an immediate medical emergency
which may require hospitalization.
Depression can shut down the survival instinct or temporarily
suppress it. Therefore, depressed suicidal thinking is not the same as
the suicidal thinking of normal people who have reached a crisis point in
their lives. Depressive suicides give less warning, need less time to
plan, and are willing to attempt more painful and immediate means, such
as jumping out of a moving car. They may also fight the impulse to
suicide by compromising on self-injury -- cutting themselves with
knives, for example, in an attempt to distract themselves from severe
mental pain. Again, relatives and friends are likely to be astonished by
how quickly such an impulse can appear and be acted upon.
Q. What are some electronic resources on the internet related to
depression?
A. This list is a shortened version of one compiled and maintained by
Sylvia Caras. It is posted periodically to ThisIsCrazy-L (see below
for subscription information). If you would like to suggest additions
for this list, contact :
sylviac@netcom.com
To suggest additions to this list for the alt.support.depression.seasonal
FAQ, send them to:
pete@rayko.demon.co.uk
* Newsgroups:
alt.support.depression
alt.support.depression.manic
alt.support.depression.seasonal
alt.support.phobias
sci.psychology
sci.med
sci.med.psychobiology
* There is a WWW site Seasonal Light/SAD being set up by Lou Puls,
lpuls@nyx.net, dealing exclusively with SAD and seasonal light.
The address is:
http://www.nyx.net/~lpuls/sadhome.html
This site covers book listings, articles, and some information on
membership organizations and light-box and other seasonal light device
manufacturers.
* Internet Health Resources is an extensive listing of medical resources
available over the internet:
ftp2.cc.ukans.edu
cd pub/hmatrix
get file medlst03.txt or medlst03.zip.
* An FTP site at Temple University containing articles related to
depression:
ftp 129.32.32.98
cd/pub/psych
* ThisIsCrazy is an electronic action and information letter for people who
experience moods swings, fright, voices, and visions
(People Who). To subscribe, send a message to :
majordomo@netcom.com
with this command in the body of the message:
subscribe ThisIsCrazy-L
* Pendulum is a mailing list for people diagnosed with bipolar mood disorder
(manic depression) and related disorders and their supporters, and some
professionals. To subscribe to pendulum, send a message to:
majordomo@ncar.ucar.edu
containing the line:
subscribe pendulum
* Walkers-in-Darkness is a list for people diagnosed with various depressive
disorders (unipolar, atypical, and bipolar depression, S.A.D., related
disorders). The list also includes sufferers of panic attacks and Borderline
Personality Disorder. Please, no researchers trying to study us, etc.
(Postings are copyrighted by individual posters.)
To subscribe to walkers or walkers-digest, send a message to:
majordomo@world.std.com
containing the line "subscribe walkers" or, for the digest, "subscribe
walkers-digest". There is an anonymous FTP site at:
ftp.std.com
in ~/pub/walkers, that includes a technical FAQ.
* To subscribe to the Mailbase list psychiatry send the command:
Q. How can I post anonymously to alt.support.depression(.seasonal)?
Sources
Contributors
Editor: Pete Appleton
Getting Help
1. National Organization for SAD (NOSAD).
2.Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms.
Old, obsolete address:
P. O. Box 478
3. Sun Net
4. Seasonal Studies
Q. Where can I find help in the United Kingdom?
Depressives Associated
Depressives Anonymous
MIND (National association for mental health)
The Samaritans (Telephone counselling service & hotline)
To find a psychiatrist/ psychologist near you, call or write:
Subject: Proto-FAQ, part two
SUBSCRIBE psychiatry
A. You can post anonymously to alt.support.depression(.seasonal) by using
the anonymous server in Finland. For more information about the anonymous
server, send mail to:
help@anon.penet.fi
for an automated reply that explains how to use the server.
Special note: While your posting will appear in alt.support.depression
without any indication of your identity, your posting first has to be sent
to Finland by e-mail. This makes the contents of your message no more secure
than any other international e-mail (less secure if you don't trust the
administrator of anon.penet.fi), which is to say not very secure at all. For
more information, consult the Privacy & Anonymity on the Internet FAQ, posted
regularly to sci.crypt, comp.society.privacy, and alt.privacy.
=======
alt.support.depression FAQ. Copyright (c) 1994 Cynthia Frazier.
Lou Puls' WWW site. (See above).
Pamphlet: Depression: What you need to know, National Institute of Mental
Health, by Marilyn Sargent. Office of Scientific Information
National Institute of Mental Health, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders. The DSM stands for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders. It is published by the American Psychiatric Association. The
latest version is the DSM-III-R (1987). For reference, the DSM-III was
published in 1980. The first edition of this manual was published in 1952,
and the second edition in 1968. The fourth edition (DSM-IV) is currently in
press and should be available this summer. It is used by the vast majority
of psychologists and mental health professionals in the United States of
America as a diagnostic tool. Psychiatrists and professionals outside of the
U.S. will often use a diagnostic system called ICD-9, which differs in many
respects from the DSM.
============
Becky
Brian Gerred
Cynthia Frazier (cf12@CORNELL.edu) Lansing, NY
Dawn Sharon Friedman
Dana Quinn
John M. Grohol (grohol@alpha.acast.nova.edu), Nova S.E. University
Joy Ikelman
kxr@netcom.com (Keith Rich)
Mary-Anne Wolf
Rachel Findley
Robert Orenstein (rlo@netcom.com)
Silja Muller
Stephan Klaus Heilmayr
Sylvia Caras
Todd Daniel Woodward
Wes Melander
All corrections, suggestions and additions gratefully received!
FAQ (c) 1995 Pete Appleton.
Most of this FAQ has been copied directly from the alt.support.depression
FAQ, edited by Cynthia Frazier (cf12@cornell.edu). Portions (c) 1994
Cynthia Frazier.
Special thanks to Ivan Goldberg, MD, NY Psychopharmacologic Inst.,
============
Q. Where should a person go for help?
A. If you think you might need help, see your internist or general
practitioner and explain your situation. Sometimes an actual physical illness
can cause depression-like symptoms so that is why it is best to see your
regular physician first to be checked out. Your doctor should be able to refer
you to a psychiatrist if the severity of your depression warrants it.
Other sources of help include the members of the clergy, local suicide
hotline, local hospital emergency room, or your local mental health center,
which can provide local and broader references.
Following is a list of organisations in the USA:
NOSAD was developed to support the interests of patients with SAD. Its
membership is open to patients, relatives, friends, interested professionals,
and any others who wish to further its goals.
These include:
(1) disseminating information about SAD by means of a regular newsletter;
(2) offering support groups to patients and their families in a manner that
has been successful for many other medical and psychiatric illnesses;
(3) working for things that are important to people with SAD - for example,
insurance reimbursement for light fixtures.
Address:
NOSAD
P. O. Box 451
Vienna, VA 22180
Tel. 301-762-0768
Updated (3 Apr 96) address:
SLTBR
10200 West 44th Avenue, Suite 304
Wheat Ridge, Colorado, 80033-2840, USA
Tel: (303) 424-3697
Fax: (303) 422-8894
email: sltbr@resourcenter.com
They also have a website at:
http://www.websciences.org/sltbr/
Source, with thanks:
Raymond W. Lam, M.D.
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia
Director, Mood Disorders Clinic
Vancouver Hospital & Health Sciences Centre
2255 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6T 2A1
Tel: 604-822-7325 Fax: 604-822-7922
E-mail: rlam@unixg.ubc.ca
Web: http://www.psychiatry.ubc.ca/ray/ray.html
Wilsonville, OR 97070
Tel. 503-694-2404
P. O. Box 10606
Rockville, MD 20850
National Institute of Mental Health
Building 10/4S-239
9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20892
A. The following are places one might find help in Great Britain:
PO Box 1022
London SE1 7QB
36 Chestnut Avenue
Beverley
Humberside
HU17 9QU
22 Harley Street
London W1N 2ED
Tel: 0345 909090 Local call.
Royal College of Psychiatrists
17 Belgrave Square
London SW1X 8PG
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995
Reply-To: pete@rayko.demon.co.uk
Part 2 of 5
===========
** Light Boxes **
+ What is a light box? How does it work?
+ Where can I get a light box from?
** Medication **
---***Under Construction***---