We cling to consistency, especially when it comes to our personal strategies for mental health.
Unfortunately, as seasons change, choice is taken out of our hands.
For disabled people, that shift can have additional psychological impacts.
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Here Comes the SAD
One common concern during the winter months isseasonal affective disorder, or SAD.
One of the things I started doing was keeping brighter lights in my house.
I find that helps me mentally meet my body physically.
So there’s not as big of a disconnect.
Lauren Cook, PsyD.
Lighting and its relation to conditions like depression is a link often seen by practitioners such asDr.
He says it’s something disabled people, and the wider population, should be mindful of.
…Depression is certainly higher [during this time period].
Part of it is because obviously, the light being diminished during these months, the colder weather.
Because of the colder weather, there’s less social activities, that certainly worsens something like depression.
One of which, she says, is societys approach to disabled people.
Just because, since I can’t sweat, heat builds up in my body.
Moving into winter is really exciting for me because I finally get to go outside and do things.
Kirstin Bone, PhD.
Take, for example, a fire evacuation, right?
And thats without discussing the biggest hurdle currently facing the disability community: the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Richardson says that fears related to COVID have weighed heavily on their family unit.
And then, if one of us gets COVID, what are going to be the effects later on?
Tai says that his advice is to seek out professional help before you feel yourself sliding.
It doesn’t hurt that you have someone looking out for you.
Those barriers can compound if support systems aren’t willing to adapt to the seasons.
Levitan RD.The chronobiology and neurobiology of winter seasonal affective disorder.Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience.
2020;65(4):313-322. doi:10.1037/rep0000368
