Seasonal affective disorder in a spinal cord injury population.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) has received formal research attention only within the last eight years. Diagnostic criteria for SAD include many characteristics typical of depression: sadness, low self-esteem, lack of energy, social withdrawal, and suicide ideation, and features of atypical depression: carbohydrate craving, overeating, weight gain, and hypersomnia. Differential diagnosis of the disorder depends on an onset in fall/winter and remission in spring/summer. It was hypothesized that spinal cord injury (SCI) patients would have a higher incidence of the disorder in the northern latitudes because of decreased outdoor activities in winter and because of such light-depriving winter survival tactics as installing opaque plastic for storm windows. SCI patient responded to a postal survey which included Rosenthal's Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results showed a substantially higher rate of SAD among SCI patients than in the normative sample.
Joerres
S G
SG
Spinal Cord Injury Service, Zablocki Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53295.
Bonifay
R E
RE
Hastings
J E
JE
Saltzstein
R J
RJ
Hayes
T J
TJ
D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D016574:Seasonal Affective Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires