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SAD 'not just under the weather'Date: 25/09/2007 08:52:40
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An Austrian medical research team has shed new light on the causes of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), identifying a lower level of serotonin in sufferers.
Suggesting that the disorder is not merely psychological, the Medical University of Vienna research team said that SAD sufferers had a lower level of brain chemical serotonin in winter than those not affected.
Most SAD victims experience normal mental health throughout the year, but then slip into depressive symptoms in one season, generally winter, where the lack of light has been suspected of affecting certain people.
Linking the disorder to serotonin levels, the Vienna researchers hoped that their findings could lead to better grounds for medical treatment of SAD, the sufferers of which often experience weight gain, increased need for sleep and irritability.
The research report found that the serotonin transporter molecule is "in a hyperfunctional state during depression in SAD and normalises after light therapy and in natural summer remission".
Currently treatments for those suffering from SAD include increased exposure to light sources such as a light box – a treatment sometimes criticised for inconvenience - and the prescription of anti-depressant drugs.
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