Episode #123

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) & CBT

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) impacts many people, particularly during the shorter, darker days of winter.

How can you use CBT tools to cope with the symptoms of SAD?

Join me, Dr Julie Osborn, as I share with you some suggestions & CBT tools to help you deal with Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Click to listen now!

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Full Episode Transcript

Hi, this is Dr. Julie. Welcome to My CBT Podcast. I'm a Doctor of Psychology and a licensed clinical social worker specializing in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I'm here to help you bring the power of CBT into your own life.

So welcome, and thanks for joining me today. I wanted to share a quick review I got on Apple Podcasts, where it says,

“O-M-G, where have you been?! I stumbled across this podcast, and I am so lucky. I love Julie's suggestions, her voice, et cetera. I feel like listening to her is a gift I'm giving myself.”

So thank you so much for that review. I really appreciate it. I encourage you guys to follow me on Apple. And if you can write a review, that just helps my podcast get out to more listeners and more people can learn the tools and benefits. So I'm very grateful for that. I wanted to share some exciting news, and it was because of you guys that are listening to me, which make it all happen.

But one of my platforms called Buzzsprout gives a review recap, they call for 2023. My CBT podcast made into the 5% of the top podcasts out there, so I was thrilled.

That's just one platform, but that just says I'm reaching a lot of people. People are benefiting, really appreciating, and learning the tools which I'm so grateful for. So this podcast, I'm shouting out to my listeners in Toronto, Canada, and definitely the UK, which are my top places where my podcast is getting downloaded. And because of that, I decided to do an episode on seasonal affective disorder, because I know from being back east, a lot of cloudy days, and with less sun, people tend to suffer from this disorder more often than not. So I thought that might be a good topic. And again, thank you all, again, for being here for me, supporting me, listening, sharing. I'm hoping to have a pretty powerful 2024 as well with all you guys and keep learning together and giving you what you need. So Seasonal affective disorder, sometimes called SAD, is a type of depression that occurs at a specific time of the year for individuals, usually during the fall and winter months when there's less sunlight. And CBT, as always, helps particularly when you can tailor and address the specific challenges associated with having seasonal affective disorder.

So I've met many people that suffer from this. Sometimes it's hard to get a good diagnosis diagnosis because people are like, Well, I'm depressed, but they're not really being able to relate it to the weather and less sunlight, less vitamin D. And sometimes it may take a couple of episodes of this to understand like, Oh, this is happening once October, November gets started, and I can see a difference with the change in weather for sure. I know a lot in the United States, most of our states, we do in the fall, we fall back. When we change the clock, it gets dark later, which people hate. I don't like it either. So instead of getting dark at seven in night, it's like five o'clock at night. It affects your mood. You're leaving work, you're like, Oh, my God, it's so dark already, versus at seven, you might leave and be like, Oh, I'm still going to go maybe take a run outside or go do something because it's still light. It really does affect your mood, the weather, for sure. It doesn't mean that you have to They live in a particular place, but there are certain places that people can be affected more based on, of course, their weather.

How does CBT help with this? Always identifying your negative thought patterns. Being able to become aware of what your thought patterns are related to your mood during the fall and the winter months. Take note if you're like, Yeah, I've seen this before, or I don't really think there's any extenuating circumstance I'm going through or situation that comes up, but I'm I'm feeling less down, I'm feeling less energetic, a little depressed since the weather has changed. As a therapist, I work with my clients to help them identify and challenge their distorted thoughts associated with this seasonal affective disorder, such as feeling pessimistic, hopelessness, having low self-esteem. Those are the first thing you want to start identifying. What are my thought patterns right now? Do I notice that I'm in a better mood? When it's lighter out and as the day goes on, my mood starts to get dark or negative, sad, less energy. Also, behavioral activation is a term we use, and that seasonal affective order often leads to, again, decreasing activities and social interactions. You want to be more focused regarding on how are you acting behaviorally. I would encourage you to engage in positive and mood-enhancing activities.

Being with others. You know, possibly exercising, looking at your diet, making sure you're, you know, hydrated, you're eating well, you're putting food into your body that makes you feel good, right? Also, you want to develop a schedule that increases your activities that, you know, bring you joy and a sense of accomplishment. So instead of letting the weather, or if it gets dark early, affecting what you do, right? Creating a schedule for yourself and sticking to that regardless of how you feel or what the weather is outside. If you're living in a cold place and it's dark, I mean, I grew up in Buffalo, New York, so I can really tell you guys, is you have to find a way to Maybe if you enjoy the weather, a lot of my friends would ski and we enjoy the weather and enjoy the snow. Other people didn't want to go out. But now you could go to a gym or go to the movies. You can go somewhere where you're inside so you're not cold, but that you're doing an activity. If you have a group that you want to get together with once a week, maybe switch different houses so you're getting together and spending time together, you want to create some structure because it's really easy to just get home get in your pajamas, get in bed and do nothing.

And that just feeds your depression. You always want to remember, behaviorally is a big part of how you feel. So my mantra is making decisions based on what's best for you, not how you feel. You want to say, Okay, what am I going to do when I get home? If I'm in someone that exercises and I do it in the evening, I'm going to have my gym bag in my car, I'm going straight to the gym because if I come home, it ain't happening. Or making plans to meet with people right after work. Or again, making some weekly plan with friends and committing to that. Maybe if there's a book club you can join, so you get out of the house and you go there once a week, once a month, whatever that schedule is. I'm just brainstorming at the moment. But whatever you find that brings you joy, things that, what do I do when it's summer time that I really like that I can still do now, even if I need to tweak it a little bit because of the weather, or if the weather's bad or because it's dark, or whatever that looks like.

There's many, many options out there for me to go and still find that joy and feel accomplished in my life, that can help you get away from the depression. As always, you want to be mindful of what you're thinking. But I do know that when people are really depressed, really anxious, a lot of times we can change behaviors before thoughts. Thoughts take a little more time. So identify a challenge, and then we have to put that behavior. So I can go take a walk even if I'm in a bad mood, right? I can go reach out to a friend. I can go, if I'm going to go to the gym or I can go show up in a movie or do something, even if I'm in a bad mood, I can change my behavior faster. So don't always wait to be like, Oh, I got to figure out my thoughts and then change them before I do something. That is not the message. I always tell everybody, it's C, B, T, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It's not just changing your thoughts, even though I know I focus on that. So I'm not giving you double messages.

But sometimes when you're like, Oh, I'm just struggling with changing my thoughts or knowing what I'm thinking. I just feel so bad. What can I do behaviorally to go do something else? Just saying yes when somebody offers you an invitation instead of asking yourself, Do I feel like it? We don't want to make decisions based on that, right? Just say, Yeah, I'm going to show up, whether I feel like it or not. So that's something You can get a calendar and create some structure. Commit to some things. Maybe make a commitment so you have to show up, whatever that might look like. I know sometimes there's support groups where people need the secretary or someone brings the coffee or there's snacks or sets up the room. If I make that commitment, then I have to show up. That's a good way of getting yourself out there and not just making decisions based on how you feel. Those are just a bunch of Different ideas. I'm sure you guys are coming up with even better ones than I am. You know yourself best. And if you're struggling, someone you're close to, say, When you think of me, what do you think about the things I do and I seem to really enjoy?

And sometimes we're just in a We have place. We just can't even think about those things or come up with them. It's like, I don't know. I don't know. I just feel bad. So asking people you trust and people that love you like, Oh, you love doing this. You love doing that. It might just bring it like, Oh, yeah, that's true. Or is there a new hobby I want to try? So others can give you some ideas, and you can tell them, You know what? I'm struggling. I'm struggling. I got the seasonal affective disorder. The weather is really affecting me. I don't want to do anything. Please invite me. Drag me out of the house if you have to. If you can come up with some things and you can think about me and include me, I'd really appreciate that. Or if you come up with some ideas and let me know about it. So reach out. You don't have to figure this all out on your own. Our community is really important. Our support system is super important. So behaviorally, just reaching out to someone that's doing something. Something else that's specific with seasonal affective disorder is what they call light exposure.

So you want to manage your light exposure, which is really a key element in treating the seasonal affective disorder. Other than the routine of spending time outdoors during daylight hours, you can also use what they have called light therapy. You can get It's a specific light. You can look it up. I know even Amazon sells it if you're an Amazon person. They're about $40, I think, but it's a specific light that people sit under 20 minutes a day. So you could have it set up or if you're working from home or you're reading a book, just sitting under it gets you that light, that vitamin D that we're all missing, and it can really help affect your mood. So that's something you can do at home. And morning, night, whatever you choose, whatever is convenient for you. But doing that once a day, that's been a treatment that's been around forever and ever. And again, that's something that you can purchase. So just being outdoors. So if you are somewhere, even if it's cold, but during the day, sometimes the sun may come out, maybe pushing yourself to go take a walk during that time.

Or at home, if you can even just sit, if you have a backyard or a patio, you can just sit out there and just let the sun beam on you. That can really help because, again, part of the problem is you're not getting enough light time outside. So the light exposure, think about how could I incorporate that into my life? And maybe purchasing one of the light therapy online or wherever you may get it and seeing if that's something that's helpful for you. So as always, part of my CBT I share with you too is having coping strategies, right? We all cope in different ways. It's all a part of our lives. They may include relaxation techniques, being mindful, using stress management skills. What are the things that you have found to be helpful? What are some things maybe you want to try? So with relaxation techniques, I always encourage my clients to use the apps that are out there. There's so many, but the ones that are pretty popular, like Headspace, Calm. But there's many, many out there. You want to find the one that works best for you. I like using them because when I have a guided meditation or guided relaxation meditation, that someone is saying, breathe in, breathe out, the muscle tension, relaxation techniques.

Because I'm thinking a lot like all of you, it's hard to stay focused sometimes. So having an app where they're talking to me can be really helpful to stay focused. If you say, I have a hard time meditating on my own, find some other tools out there that can help. Be mindful is really being present, right? How am I feeling right now? Not getting attached to the thoughts that we have. Remember, your thoughts are thoughts, and they only have as much power as you give them. Because you have a thought, you don't want to get to it like, Oh my God, because I'm thinking it, it's true. Hot thought, hot thought, hot thought. Our hot thoughts are the thoughts that aren't 100% true. And then stress management. Again, that can be listening to music, that can be taking a walk, that can be spending time with someone that's important to you, that's also getting enough sleep. Whatever is a tool, a skill that helps you decrease your stress, make sure you're not working too much. Having some balance with putting time into your work, but also time for yourself so you don't burn yourself out.

Those are lots of different ways of coping with stress. Obviously, you want to do cognitive restructuring, right? So cognitive, that's changing how you're thinking. What I teach you guys all the time is the first thing to ask yourself is, when you have a negative mood, what am I thinking about? And then identifying if that's a hot thought or not. We can replace our negative thoughts, our hot thoughts with balance and alternative thinking, and having a healthier mindset by doing that, which can be a game changer. In addition to changing your behaviors, as I spoke about a few minutes ago, you can also look at it as possibly setting some goals for yourself. You want them to be realistic and you want them to be achievable because I want you guys to have success. When I say realistic, for example, if people want to work out, be like, I'm going to start going to the gym, especially with the new year, five days a week for an hour. And I'm like, Whoa, slow down. That's a great goal to get to. But let's start with two days a week for maybe 30 minutes. And if you end up doing more, That'll be success.

I don't want you to set up five days a week that's really not realistic if you haven't been working out in a while. And then you don't do, and you're like, Oh, I failed again. Forget it. I'm not going to do anymore. And that's what happens. So we set these unrealistic goals. So two days a week for 30 minutes, I think it's pretty realistic for most of us, right? And making that happen, too. If you're like, I can't do that, I would ask you why you can't do that. What are you doing in your day that's getting in the way? And how can you fit that in? If you're like, I don't have time, that's something to look at. But again, making it realistic. And then, again, you can always add to it, but you want to have success. And the more success you have with the goals you set for yourself, the more you're going to do them. And that can really help with your mood. And again, especially with the seasonal affective disorder, feeling accomplished and feeling like, You know what? I'm able to work through this, and I'm able to actually do things that are helping.

So every year, I'm not like, Oh, my God, here comes fall and winter. I'm going to be depressed. That's a half thought you don't have to tell yourself. You are more susceptible, maybe. What am I going to do about it, though? That's my thought. That's empowering to me. What am I going to do about it? Versus I'm stuck, I can't do anything, I have to get through winter. That's a long time for some people, based on wherever you live. Long time. So getting through it isn't a goal. Getting through it isn't a plan, right? We need specific things we want to write down. So you want to be realistic and you want them to be achievable. Those are the two things that you want them to be a part of when you're setting your goals. Am I hitting those two markers? And then what's always important, and I talk to all my clients about this, is relapse prevention. So relapse prevention is that Most of us are going to relapse, whatever we're dealing with. We're going to have a day where it's like, Oh, I didn't do too good, or my moods are not as good, or I'm letting things get to me.

I'm not pushing through. We want to prevent it as much as possible so we can maintain our progress. The more we can go forward and stick with the progress, the more it will just become like a habit for us. What's the first thing regarding relapse prevention is recognizing your early signs of depression and then saying, Okay, here they are. Let me go back and start using those coping strategies that Dr. Julie talked about that I created for myself and get back on board. I always think it's a great idea to Write down what are my symptoms, what are my specific symptoms when I'm feeling depressed? So I can say, Oh, yeah, that's happening again. A lot of times what happens is people ignore, dismiss little things that are going, Well, I didn't sleep good tonight, but that's just one night. All of a sudden, it's five nights. All of a sudden, the insomnia is a problem again. So you want to address things when they happen and jump on them. The sooner we deal with them, the quicker we're going to get better. Also in the Mind Over Mood book, in chapters 13 and 14, which is one's on depression, one's on anxiety, there's a tool I have all my clients use religiously every single week, which is the Mind Over Mood depression inventory and the Mind Over Mood anxiety inventory.

In every session, I ask my clients for their scores. It's not a way of diagnosing yourself, but it shows all of... Not all, I should say, most symptoms of depression, anxiety. You fill it out once a week, and then there's a bar graph you can use, and you can see, how are you doing? Because I've had some clients that have come back for booster sessions that they said, I kept using the inventory when we finished up, and I see my symptoms are starting to go up, and I really didn't notice it, but I want to come in and have a booster session. So it's a great It's going to be difficult for you to manage and monitor how you're doing because life's busy. I get it, you guys. And all of a sudden we're like, Oh, man, I'm not feeling good again. I didn't recognize it, and now it's going to be a little harder to get back to where I want to be. I can get started right away. And if I already have the tools ingrained, it's going to be a lot easier to get back there. So relapse prevention is an important part of therapy that I've learned the tools that help me the most, and I need to stick with them and become part of my lifestyle so that I'm less likely to relapse.

But again, most of us do on some level, whatever that looks like, and I don't want it to be disheartening because it's a hot thought to think I'm always going to be well now that that's where I got. It's something I have to always work on, right? Staying well, being a healthy person is not an easy thing to do. It takes work. Good work, though. I don't look at it like, Oh, a drag. I want to always be working on myself because I know I feel my best when I do. But it's not like once you get there, you're done. It's just like I'm exercising. Once you get to your goal, the maintenance is usually the hardest. You're not like, Oh, I don't have to work out anymore because now I have muscles. Well, they're just going to go away if you stop. And that's the same with your mental health. That once you get to where you want to be, it's fabulous. And then what are you going to do to maintain that? How often are you going to do thought records? How often do you fit in your self-care? How often do you do the things that bring you joy in reaching goals?

All the things I've talked about today. Those are all really important. So I hope this was helpful. If you're not suffering from seasonal affective disorder, you may know somebody that is, and please share with them and pass this along. And maybe that helps you identify that maybe that's something you have been going through and you just didn't understand what the issue was. You may think, Oh, I'm doing all these things. Why am I still struggling during the winter? And it could just be that. Maybe I need to get out more during the day and get more light or do the light therapy. All those things can be really helpful for all individuals. But in general, I can tell you that all of the tools with CBT can help everybody. I really encourage you, if you're just getting started with me, to go get the Mind Over Mood book. You can find on my website and get started there and start learning the tools and doing that for yourself. So that's it for today. Please keep sharing your thoughts. You guys know where you can find me at my website, mycognitivebehavioraltherapy. Com. Also, if you haven't visited, I'm having every other week a new blog that you can read.

That's something new that you can catch up on. If you haven't been reading it already.

You can always find me on Instagram under My CBT Podcast.

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I appreciate you, again, sharing your thoughts, your concerns, your questions. I love hearing from you guys. Again, please pass this on to others who may find it helpful.

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I hope everybody's doing well as the year has gotten started. Again, I appreciate you continuing to follow me in your support, and I look forward to this year sharing more CBT tools and topics with you.

As always, make decisions based on what's best for you, not how you feel.