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Nonseasonal Mood Disorders:

There are many varieties of clinical mood disorders. Even with SAD, some people experience a "unipolar" pattern (winters low, summers normal) while others experience a "bipolar pattern" (winters low, summers high). The same is true for nonseasonal mood disorders, except the low periods are less predictable and can occur at any time of year. In another form, the depressed mood can last continuously, literally for years at a time without let-up. Regardless of the pattern, all mood disorders should be evaluated and treated by a mental health professional - although, if you are lucky, your primary care physician can also be helpful.

The good news is that patients with nonseasonal mood disorders, of all variations, are showing good response to light therapy. Often it is combined with antidepressant drugs, but not necessarily. Those with the bipolar pattern are only prescribed light therapy after establishing a mood-stabilizing medication (such as lithium) to avoid manic swings.

You can evaluate whether your blue mood is seasonal or nonseasonal, and whether it is clinically severe or not, using the Personalized Inventory SAD on the Self Assessment section of this website. If the problem looks serious, print out the results and show them to your doctor: it is a great way to get a discussion going and move toward supervised treatment.

As such, light therapy is increasingly being used by both outpatients and hospitalized inpatients. There are cases where a patient has never responded to drugs, but still responds to light therapy. Thus, light therapy is on its way to becoming a major mainline treatment option for non-seasonal mood disorders.

In general, the treatment regimen is similar for SAD and non-seasonal mood disorders (10,000 lux of bright light for 30 minutes upon awakening), although some nonseasonal patients require milder exposures (lower intensity, shorter duration, treatment later in the day).