Seasonal Affective Disorder, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Complex Relational Trauma

How the three connect and affect your life

Shirley J. Davis

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Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash

Everyone experiences some version of the winter blues when they are caught inside and unable to move about as much as they would like because of the cold and snow. But some people experience a type of major depression that affects them in the fall and winter called seasonal affective disorder that is highly impairing and disruptive to their lives.

What is this strange form of depression and how does it relate to other forms of mental health problems?

This article will focus on answering these questions about the relationships between seasonal affective disorder (SAD), complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), and complex relational trauma.

What is SAD?

To be clear from the start, many who suffer from SAD have not experienced complex relational trauma, so it is unwise to say that SAD is a trauma-related disorder. Indeed, SAD is thought to have physical causes, not traumatic ones.

Seasonal affective disorder is a form of major depression that affects an estimated 10 million Americans with another 10–20% having a milder form. SAD is four times more common in women than men.

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Shirley J. Davis

I am an author/speaker/grant writer in the U.S. My passion is authoring information about mental health disorders, especially dissociative identity disorder..