Seasonality of Mood

November is such a weird month to be a psychiatrist. Most manic episodes occur during summer and you can really get in a groove catching and treating them, but I always feel a bit tossed around in November. I imagine a lot of this has to do with the time change, decreased daylight, holidays, family and financial stress, but we don’t know why there is a seasonal variation to bipolar disorder or mental health disorders. I find the November wave to be more distressing than the summer wave. It seems like all of a sudden a lot of my patients come in manic for 3-4 weeks. I try to be ready and anticipate this wave each year and treating people longitudinally, I do think I’ve gotten better at it. I try to prep my patients for this and see my at risk patients more often this time of year. It seems so messed up that when people are struggling their most with impulse control we have a holiday season that celebrates shopping! But conversely, maybe we have this season of shopping because of this seasonal variation. It kind of reminds me of squirrels running around burying their acorns before winter to have a stash of supplies. Are we really just a bunch of squirrels during the holiday season? I have certainly felt like I've had the attention span of a squirrel this season!

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-023-02365-x#:~:text=For%20affective%20disorders%20(major%20depression,15%2C%2021%2C%2022%5D.

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