Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

This review is a pragmatic attempt to highlight recent research and some backround reading on SAD. It should not be considered exhaustive, simply a way of reviewing some of the major developments and current thinking in the area.

Click here to see all the TRIP Evidence Reviews.

Evidence-Based Reports

• The Seasonal Health Questionnaire is more effective at detecting seasonal affective disorder than the Seasonal Pattern Adjustment Questionnaire. Evidence-Based Mental Health (Requires free registration, 2004
• Review: bright light therapy and dawn simulation reduce symptom severity in seasonal affective disorder. Evidence-Based Medicine (Requires free registration), 2005
• Review: light therapy is an effective treatment for seasonal affective disorder. Evidence-Based Mental Health (Requires free registration), 2006

Systematic Reviews

• The efficacy of light therapy in the treatment of mood disorders: a review and meta-analysis of the evidence. DARE, 2005
• Light therapy for seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Health Technology Assessment, 2001

Recent articles in core journals

• Seasonal affective disorder. American Family Physician, 2006
• The Can-SAD study: a randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of light therapy and fluoxetine in patients with winter seasonal affective disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 2006.
• The association between seasonal and premenstrual symptoms is continuous and is not fully accounted for by depressive symptoms. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 2006.
• Controlled trial of naturalistic dawn simulation and negative air ionization for seasonal affective disorder. Am J Psychiatry, 2006
• The efficacy of light therapy in the treatment of mood disorders: a review and meta-analysis of the evidence. Am J Psychiatry, 2005

eTextbooks

• GP Notebook

Clinical Queries

• What evidence is there for the use of light boxes in the treatment of seasonal affective disorder (SAD)? ATTRACT, 2005
• What is the evidence for light box therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder? NLH Q&A Service. 2006

Patient Information

• NHS Direct Online
• Patient UK
• Mayo Clinic
• BUPA Health Information
• eMedicine Consumer Health