A Look at The “Summer Blues”

Lana Del Ray’s song titled "Summertime Sadness" holds a lot of truth! You may have heard before about SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) which is generally more well-known for an increase in depression during the winter months, as the days are shorter and for most states, the weather gets colder. When working with clients struggling during the winter months, we often remind them that holidays may impact their mental health alongside the change in weather. This can also be true during the warm, summer months. Norman Rosenthal speaks more on this.

During the moments of the “summer blues” there may be a lot of change, which can impact anxiety or depression. Possible factors could include change in schedule due to kids being out of school and/or vacations, increase in anxiety about appearance, lack of ability to engage in summer activities because of finances, health issues that encourage staying indoors, and last but not least, the hot and/or humid weather. 

Struggling with change is a normal part of being human. However, if you notice that you’re experiencing an increase in changes to sleep, appetite, hygiene, mood, and overall change in your mental health that is causing distress in your daily life, you may be experiencing seasonal depression. If this is you, I hope to offer some options to help you take care of yourself:

• Maintaining hygiene and helpful sleep schedule

• Spending time with your support system or talking to a therapist

• Finding activities to enjoy that meet your financial and health needs

• Finding time for self-care and breaks from kiddos

• Setting boundaries with comparison to others on social media

• Saving your PTO for vacations, or even days off work that are what you want

If you are not in therapy, maybe this is a great time to think about stepping into that and beginning your healing journey so that hopefully a year from now the sting of SAD can be just a little less than it is now. We would love to chat with you, schedule a free consultation