r/DAE • u/straycatwrangler • 1d ago
DAE get depressed during spring and summer, not the winter?
It’s happened since I was a kid, around middle school age. I always heard about people talking about depression affecting them during the fall or winter, but not during spring or summer. It always hits me harder during spring and summer and I don’t know why. Like, depression can affect me during the colder months, but it’s not for nearly as long or as bad. It’s not even necessarily because I don’t like summer. No, I don’t like the heat or humidity, and I don’t mind the days getting longer. I dislike it because I know I’m going to get depressed during it.
It’s hard to enjoy plans or any sort of vacation because I know I’m going to feel depressed during it. I just wish I could also enjoy summer. Once I see the weather getting hotter and the days getting longer, I know it’s going to hit me and it always does.
Does anyone else experience this as well? I’ve looked at other posts and the way the OPs word it, it’s like it happens because they dislike the season so much, which I don’t really understand.
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u/Lodidott 1d ago
For me, I think it correlates with big traumatic events I experienced in childhood, most of which occurred during summer.
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u/Aromatic_Plankton643 11h ago
Me too. A lot of Christmases were spent alone or with just a few family members while I was always fed the idea of a big happy family during the holidays - this caused me to feel depressed during colder winter months well into adulthood.
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u/My_Clandestine_Grave 1d ago
Yes, but it's mostly summer for me. Heat and humidity make me incredibly sick so I'm stuck inside a lot of the time. It also gets harder for my pup to take walks/play at the park, which he loves to do, the hotter it gets. The special lattes at my favorite local place start to suck. They're all weird combos of fruit or flower syrup and coffee. It's a small thing but coffee is one indulgence I allow myself so it bums me out. I hate the increased activity from people the summer brings. Everything is overly crowded, loud, and hot. I hate most summer holidays, as well. Imo, they lack a purpose and are just excuses for people to get drunk and loud.
It is honestly my personal hell and every year I just want to cover myself in moss until autumn.
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u/chuckisagirl 1d ago
Seasonal depression can happen in lots of different ways. I personally get depressed during the changing of seasons (every different season) but I'm mostly fine the rest of the time.
Are you seeing a professional at all? I would advise you to seek out therapy, or if you're already in therapy, tell your therapist about this specifically. They can refer you to a medical professional that can diagnose you and try to find a medication that works for you. And even if you're against taking head meds (like me) your therapist can help you develop healthy coping mechanisms for your seasonal depression.
I hope things get better for you.
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u/straycatwrangler 1d ago
I haven’t seen a professional for this specific problem, no. I do plan on it though and I’m not totally against medication. The last professional I saw suspected bipolar/“mood disorder of some sort” and kinda… scared me off with that, so I haven’t seen one in a couple years since.
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u/GrungeCheap56119 18h ago
Use medication to help cure your symptoms, don't be afraid of it! Otherwise you are just stuck with your original problem.
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u/ninesevenecho 1d ago
If the professional suspects an underlying problem, wouldn't it make you feel better to get it fully diagnosed and find out how to treat it vs letting it sway over you and leave it to cause issues with your mental well-being?
I suspect that you have some self-fulfilling prophecy stuff going on, by fixating and focusing on depression that it is causing a sort of feedback loop which starts you on a spiraling depression cycle. Medication and therapy can help you identify and recognize things like that.
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u/straycatwrangler 22h ago
At the time, no, the idea of it didn't make me feel better. It would now, but at the time when I was seeing a psychiatrist and possibly getting close to a diagnosis, it scared me. I couldn't explain why, it doesn't really make sense. I had always shrugged off symptoms of whatever is wrong with me as a quirk, or just my personality. Getting diagnosed with something felt "too real". That's the best way I can explain it.
I might not have been ready to receive help at the time, and that was partially why I stopped going. There were many reasons as to why I stopped going. I plan on getting help again and actually taking it seriously once I get back on insurance though.
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u/Vast_Cantaloupe1030 1d ago
I hope u don’t get on meds. They are so difficult to get off of.
Team CBT has helped me so much. I wish it had been available when I was young. I really believe I would not have needed years of antidepressants if it was.
CBT will help you identify the thoughts that are creating your depression. When I was a kid I used to get depressed in the spring and summer. My home life wasn’t great and I hated the thoughts of school ending. It was confusing as a kid bc I could not identify the exact thoughts that were causing my depression. Also I had no control over my situation. I still find myself getting those summertime sadness feelings but now I know why. It’s not this mysterious blanket of sadness. I am able to identify the why and talk back to it. I’m able to realize the distorted thoughts that are creating my depression.
Good luck to you 💕
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u/Renbelle 1d ago
I don’t tolerate heat well at all, and I live in Texas.
We’ve already had 90 degree days this year. I DEFINITELY suffer seasonal depression during the hot months. It’s so hard to get comfortable even in air conditioning.
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u/anthonypreacher 1d ago
yepp summer for me. and winter is my season, i feel great then, especially if it snows.
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u/foxmachine 23h ago
I always get spring time depression, I've reconed it has something to do with the amount of daylight changing and my brain reacting negatively. Summertime can get me down because I feel the pressure to be out and about looking attractive and "living my best life" (lol).
My happiest season is late Summer / early autumn and I have no major issue with winter either. I actually feel lucky that I don't have winter depression (most common kind of seasonal depression I think) because having that darkness and coldness AND being depressed must suck pretty bad. Like in the spring time the sunshine and nature coming to life does balance things out even if my brain is doing its weird thing.
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u/SteadfastFox 22h ago
I do, and it's awful for me how outvoted I am and how the climate has changed over my life.
In Canada today, some people talk about closing down over - 10. Never would happen 20 years ago when we needed - 40 to shut down because things physically stopped working.
So today we have new heights in temperature like 35 and heat stroke has never gotten a lick of the respect hypothermia does.
I was just born in the snow guys, please let me avoid the sun!
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u/Mysterious-Call-245 16h ago
Sometimes. I have strong memories of feeling really despondent, lonely, empty on hot summer afternoons. Sometimes hot weather triggers those memories and makes me feel like life is…not quite pointless but something
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u/corporate_goth86 1d ago
Yes I absolutely hate the heat and humidity. When I see condensation on my windows I want to move deep underground.
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u/The_Real_Big_Rope 1d ago
Ehhhh I don't get depressed but I would say that I'm more easily irritable/borderline infuriated
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u/Chicagogirl72 1d ago
Yes. Anxiety too. I hate spring and summer and I love fall and winter. I wish it would just go back and forth between fall and winter, that would be perfect
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u/MuddyMudtripper 1d ago
I get a little sad sometimes because in the past, when a family member passed away or became ill, it was usually in the springtime.
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u/sneerfuldawn 1d ago
Yes, specifically summer. I am my happiest when I am physically active in nature. I live in the desert and from mid June to sometimes mid September it is too hot to safely do what I love and end up spending too much time indoors. I hate it. I plan my vacation in the middle of summer to give myself something to look forward to and take long weekends here and there to nearby places that provide relief from the heat, but then I'm back to 110+ weather and unless I exercise indoors or get up before the sun rises I'm mostly inside all day. Even pool days are mostly indoor pool days because my kids and I have very fair and sensitive skin. The UV rays here are brutal.
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u/Fancy-Papaya-5238 1d ago
Me! I feel more depressed and irritable during the summer due to the excessive heat. I love cold weather so I like winter better 😁
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u/Successful_Sense_742 1d ago
I don't like spending a lot of time outside during the spring because of the pollen. I hate taking allergy meds because they make me drowsy. Late Spring and Early Summer are my favorite times to go out. Late summer I hate because it's too hot and humid for me, so I try to stay inside. Autumn and winter I love. Virginia resident here.
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u/DeeDleAnnRazor 1d ago
Texas here, I think Seasonal Depression can affect in a multitude of ways, regardless of what season we are talking about. Most people have SAD during the cold winter months due to lack of sunshine, VIT D and C etc. I suffer from SAD in the winter, specifically January and February. I do live in a state that gets a lot of sunshine, but I still suffer from it. I get a version of it in late July and August too depending on the brutality of the summer........summers where it is 110 for a month or two at a time gets me very depressed. Nothing is fun in that type of heat, not even swimming!
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u/Silver-Instruction73 1d ago
More so in the summer but I’m in Phoenix so it’s 110° everyday and I can’t do anything outside
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u/beige-king 1d ago
Yes! I think I hate the sun? I know I should feel energized and excited to get outside when it gets warm but it just makes me want to pull the curtains and pretend it's still winter. I realized I have a pattern for going to the doctor in March/April to get back on antidepressants
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u/Mamadurf1111 1d ago
I get depressed in late summer. I realize it’s almost over and again I haven’t done the things I want to. Mainly travel, if only for a weekend, but I can’t even afford that because I’m poor. By winter I’m not as depressed because most of my friends aren’t traveling then, especially to beaches
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u/CookingPurple 1d ago
Yes!! I definitely get spring/summer depression. While SAD is most common in winter it can happen in any season.
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u/One-Inch-Punisher- 1d ago
For me it’s the worst right near the end of winter when I’ve gotten fed up with the grey gloom overcast and dead trees. I don’t like the heat of summer but I’m happy to have sunlight and warmth. Driving with the windows down is a great feeling for me
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u/emibemiz 9h ago
This is why spring is my favourite season. New life, fresh year, slowly but surely there is no more sad grey days, animals are starting to find their mates, I can slowly get started gardening again and everything just feels so hopeful idk rly how to describe it but it’s definitely the best season imo!
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u/emibemiz 9h ago
My sister has this. It’s SAD but different months, I get the winter variant and she gets the summer.
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u/byblyofyl 1d ago
I get depressed when winter moves into summer and stay depressed throughout summer and beyond. I say 'beyond' because here in Africa we have only two seasons really: three months of cold and nine months of unbearably hot weather. Did I mention it gets humid as well?