[psychphysic]

It's worth noting (or maybe it isn't) that there there is scant evidence for SAD.

The confirmation bias is strong here maybe in me and others, the solutions are all dripping in snake oil.

It's really quite bizarre but amount of cold and darkness doesn't correlate well with low mood. Frankly I've not seen anyways provide an reasonable explanation for it.

[b3morales]

People self-report feeling "down" in various ways in the winter months. The experience is happening to them regardless of whether we know the causes or solutions. Perhaps there are in fact many different things that are manifesting in similar ways. Dismissing the experiential phenomenon doesn't get us any closer to figuring that out.

[psychphysic]

Yes this is the biggest misconception about depression.

The idea that it is synonymous with feeling "down" and more or less depression is just how "down" you feel.

Depression is much more than just that feeling. And not all unpleasant feelings are pathological.

So the question becomes, why is it in modern times people no long feel able to say "I feel down" or "I don't like winter". Instead they need to wrap it in a medical term that appears unsupported by evidence.

[Yoric]

I don't know about confirmation bias but I've realized as a kid that November and February has always been bad for me. I think that was way before I heard of SAD, although I could of course have internalized something I had heard and forgotten the details.

Anyway, given that placebos work very well on mood, I'm happy to read about possible solutions (as long as they're not harmful) even if they would have no observable effect in a double-blind :)

[psychphysic]

It might not be confirmation bias. Only that there is a natural variability in human behaviour linked to seasons.

Just like every other living organism from lichen to bears.

But humans do not like to admit they are not masters of their domain (genuinely not a Seinfeld reference).

The question, however, is the use of "disorder" and the evidence this far is lacking.

[solsane]

Psychologists, the least scientific form of scientists, use the term ‘disorder’ far too liberally if you ask me. The term has implications for how people view others with these diagnosis and how those people view themselves.

The term is borrows credibility from other parts of medicine. The term gives the impression of a ‘disease’, which a) we tend to think of as physiological and b) something foreign and unwanted in our body, and c) not normal. I have ADHD but none of the above describe my mental state when I’m off my medication.

I see the term ‘disorder’ in psychology often used to the effect of ‘basis for a prescription’. I’ll take the medication, improve my life, and leave the stigma of being ‘diseased’ behind.