Seasons of the Mind: Why You Get the Winter Blues and What You Can Do About It - Hardcover

Is a seasonal mood problem a real affliction or just a nuisance? According to practicing psychiatrist Rosenthal, whose views are supported by recent research at the National Institute of Mental Health, it is a legitimate and transient illness whenever it impairs functioning. The book is clear in its discussion of the gradations of disturbance between subsyndromal "winter blues" and the more severe Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) as a variant of depression now affecting almost ten million people in the United States. Rosenthal recommends quenching our normal hunger for light in darker climates or seasons by means of phototherapy--a supplemental dosage of 2500 lux, 2 to 6 hours a day, using commonly available full-spectrum flourescent lights. An interesting summary of clinical research on the psychological effects of seasonality.
-William Abrams, Portland State Univ. Lib., Ore.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.