Seasonal mood disorders. Patterns of seasonal recurrence in mania and depression.
DSM-III-R criteria, applied retrospectively in a research-oriented psychiatric clinic, identified patients (N = 146) with a mood disorder and a seasonal pattern of recurrence (seasonal mood disorder). The seasonal mood disorder syndrome was not rare (10% of all mood disorders); diagnostic distribution was as follows: recurrent depression, 51%, and bipolar disorder, 49%, with 30% of the latter having mania (bipolar disorder type I) and 19% having hypomania (bipolar disorder type II). Most patients were women (71%); onset age averaged 29 years, with a mean of eight cycles in 12 years of illness; mean episode duration was 5.0 months. Mood disorder was found in a high proportion (68%) of the families. All but one patient followed one of two seasonal patterns in equal frequency: type A, fall-winter depression with or without spring-summer mania or hypomania; and type B, spring-summer depression with or without fall-winter mania or hypomania. Both types showed consistent times of onset and remission. These results emphasize that DSM-III-R seasonal mood disorder includes severe cases of recurrent depression and bipolar disorder and support a distinction between two seasonal subtypes.
Faedda
G L
GL
Consolidated Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Program, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.
Tondo
L
L
Teicher
M H
MH
Baldessarini
R J
RJ
Gelbard
H A
HA
Floris
G F
GF
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016574:Seasonal Affective Disorder / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012621:Seasons; D012737:Sex Factors; D009626:Terminology as Topic