%20(2560%20%C3%97%201152%20px).jpg)
Chronicles Of A Therapist
Chronicles Of A Therapist
Dealing With Seasonal Depression
In this episode of "Chronicles of a Therapist," Cassandra Shepard discusses her personal struggle with seasonal depression, also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). She shares her experiences with the winter months, the impact of gloomy weather on mental health, and the importance of recognizing the signs of seasonal depression. Cassandra offers practical strategies to combat this condition, including the benefits of vitamin D, planning trips to sunny locations, maintaining a healthy diet, staying hydrated, and ensuring adequate sleep. She emphasizes the need for self-care and encourages listeners to seek help if they experience severe symptoms. Join Cassandra as she navigates the challenges of winter and provides valuable insights for managing seasonal depression. Don't forget to connect with her on Instagram @CNShep_Chronicles and subscribe to her YouTube channel, "Chronicles of the Therapist."
Hey guys, welcome to Chronicles of a Therapist. I am Cassandra Shepherd and welcome to my space. So, unfortunately, the summer months are over. I'm so upset because I hate the winter. So, because of my disdain for cold weather, I wanted to talk about something that I have been struggling with since I was about maybe like 19.
Speaker 1:I'm the seasonal depression. I'm sure it's called sad, which is ironic that it's called sad and you're really sad. But basically it is when the winter months come. And well, I do wonder if people in California have this. Probably not.
Speaker 1:I feel like it's a Midwest diagnosis kind of sort of it's one of those unofficial diagnosis. It's not like it's in a dsm anywhere, but so, you know, seasonal depression is once winter and cold months come, especially like now we're almost in daylight, save it, like we're right there and the sun goes down at like 6, 5, 30, you know it. Just it feels very gloomy, very sad. So I wanted to talk about that because it's something that a lot of people don't even realize that they got going on, like we call it the winter blues. But when it is intense, so like there is the winter blues, those of us who live with snow and ice, you know, once the snow hit, it kind of hard to go places if it's if you're snowed in. So we're not talking about that. We're talking about the entire fall winter season where you're sad, you don't want, you have no motivation, you don't want to get out of bed, you don't want to engage with people. I mean, depending on what you do, you go to work. Most people I know still go to work who struggle with it, because I mean, unless you come from like a wealthy place, you got to go to work kind of can't get past that. But um, and I think we don't realize it's here until it's here, those that's when you get your your winter 15, 20, you know you just don't want to do all the things. And so studies show us especially in Ohio and I always tell people this because most people don't know this 60% of our days out of 365 are gloomy, and so if you know anything about sunlight and the benefits of it having deficit of vitamin d which comes from the sun, which, if you live in gloomy places like ohio in the midwest, kind of makes seasonal depression a very, very bad thing so I think people don't know that it happens until it's here and you've gained a whole bunch of weight and you're in the bed all the time and you and your kids get. And then, what's interesting too, like we got all these holidays too. So you add seasonal depression on top of whatever trauma you got going on from your holidays and having, if you have kids. They got winter break, they got, you know, thanksgiving break. So trying to put all these things together and still exist, I thought it would be great for us to talk about. So that's what seasonal depression is.
Speaker 1:I think that, like for me and I'll share this, my I probably always was like that. But like I feel like while in school, you kind of are Depending on your y'all. Met my mom. She could be a bit much, so there was no break, there was no. You might be saying, all right, you better go to school. Like there was no. So I didn't realize it was a thing until I went to college.
Speaker 1:When you go to college, one of the reasons why a lot of us who are very sheltered and have helicopter parents enjoy college is they're not there. So nobody is telling you to get up and go to class. Nobody's get up, get your stuff together. It's not there. And so my very, very first, I don't think I've ever shared this publicly. Oh well, my very, very first quarter at Wright State freshman in college, I probably now mind you straight A student always got good grades. I went from that to like season D's and really it was a combination of the freedom of not having to get up because nobody was necessarily forcing you to in the seasonal depression of it's cold. I don't want to. You want me to walk class in the snow. I'm not doing that, I'm about to stay here and watch the food network all day right. And so eventually it obviously affected my grades, because you know first, you know C's and D's is not necessarily good, and so, um, I remember that I was on academic probation and anybody who's been on and anybody who's been in college and has had financial aid, they really be on it, like you can't have c's, d's and f's and have financial aid. No, it's not happening. So I remember having to figure out a way to get my financial aid back because obviously I can do the work.
Speaker 1:I just was struggling with depression, and so my mom is not licensed, but she does have a master's in counseling and we were talking and she was like oh well, guess what you sound like you got seasonal depression. I said, say what, what's that? Well, all the things you just told me you don't want to get up and go to class, you sleep all day, you're not really eating sounds like seasonal depression, and it always starts in the winter and this is. And then then she had a nerve to tell me and you've been doing this all your life, so when were we going to make plans? Mom, like, when was there going to be a discussion about? This is something that you struggle with, and so, as your mom, I've been on you, but now I'm in college, you're not there to tell me that.
Speaker 1:So I ended up having to actually do a appeal for financial aid and I had to talk about how I had seasonal depression. Now, granted, like I said, this is not something that is diagnosable, because it's not like a formal diagnosis. It's just a thing that happens, it is a real thing, but it's not like, oh look, it's a formal diagnosis. So I couldn't go to the doctor and say I need you to write a letter to say I have seasonal depression. So, all that being said, obviously I was able to get my financial aid back because I have all these wonderful degrees accounted for.
Speaker 1:So but I wanted to talk about it because we need to have strategies, got to have strategies because you can't continue each year to let this happen. You know, like knowing that it's a thing and then just letting it happen, because I don't know if everybody's like this. I am every winter I'm like, oh no, maybe, just maybe the winter won't come this year. Now what's? The earth? And the sun rotates, it's coming, there's. No, you can't pray about it. The weather's going to change. It has to change right. So some things that I use that help me kind of fight through it. The biggest thing is vitamin D. Obviously, lack of sun we get usually and that's why people you ever talk to people who are like in the south, the west coast, they seem a little bit happier because all the sunlight people in Jamaica, people in the it's the sunlight, the sun. They don't have as many gloomy days as we do, especially in the Midwest, like I said.
Speaker 1:So get you some vitamin D. I start taking mine into September. I mean you should take it year round because it is a supplement and little known fact. A lot of people don't know. If you have vitamin d deficiency, it can look like bipolar and clinical depression. People don't know that. So I always tell people if you got these things going on, talk to your doctor, ask for a blood plan, get all of all of your levels because instead of getting on psych meds, you might just need some vitamins and minerals. So first thing is to do is get you some vitamin D. I personally like liquid vitamin D because I don't really like pills. Vitamins and pills they mess up my stomach. So get you maybe a liquid. It kind of metabolizes in your body a lot quicker.
Speaker 1:The second thing I have done for years I always try to plan a trip, primarily somewhere where there's sun, whether it's out of the country, whether it's California, whether it's Florida, somewhere where the sun is very, very vibrant, because one for me. It gives me a level of goal, it gives me something to look forward to so that I can press past the mundanity of the winter and seasonal depression. So, vitamin D, plan something. And maybe you know I'm a summer baby, I like the sun. Maybe for you you want to go to a cabin, maybe you want to go on a ski trip, maybe you enjoy the coldness, but it's just a deficiency thing of vitamin D, like you might actually like the winter. But you can still be sad and I think a lot of times people kind of put them together like, oh, I don't like the winter, so I have seasonal depression. No, it's just a change. It's a change that happens every year.
Speaker 1:Another thing that you can do is eating well, getting water. We've talked about this before Eating well, getting water and exercise. That can look a whole bunch of different ways. It depends on what your body type is. You know, I could say to people okay, go raw vegan, go vegan, cut your meat out. But sometimes people don't want to do that. But do a deep dive into your body and see what works for your body. Sometimes people like I've heard of people doing a carnivore diet and them losing weight. If you don't know what that is, you basically eat meat and that's it. You don't eat any fruits, you don't eat any vegetables, you don't eat any carbs. You see the whole bunch of meat, a whole bunch of protein that might work for your body. Whatever you might think, you need to kind of do some tests. Talk to your doctor, talk to some wellness coaches, dieticians, things like that.
Speaker 1:Water Everybody needs water. Everybody needs water. There are people I have met who don't drink water. That is weird. Our body is like 60% water. How do you not drink water? Drink your water. They have sparkling water. You can infuse your water with fruit and stuff. Drink your water, drink it. And stuff. Drink your water like drink it cold, drink a warm room temperature, figure it out. Just drink your water. It's, it's, just do it. I don't understand how people are are so anti-water and we need it. We literally need water, water and then sleep.
Speaker 1:I think, even though, if you do struggle with seasonal depression, you can sleep too much, but you can sleep and then not be sleep at all, whether you have, you know, swing shifts, kids, whatever the case may be, you have to figure out why your sleep circadian rhythm is off, because what a lot of people don't know is you have to go through the entire sleep cycle. If you are waking up before you hit the entire sleep cycle, you could sleep for 20 hours. Your body didn't recognize all 20 hours as actual sleep because you didn't finish your sleep cycle. So absolutely make sure you get enough sleep.
Speaker 1:And finally, if it gets completely bad and if your seasonal depression is, like you're, to the point where you have an intense level of hopelessness, worthlessness and or you have suicidal thoughts or a plan. Please, please, please, ma'am, please, sir, please, go get help. If you don't know how to do anything else, call the mobile crisis. Go to the emergency room. You want to keep yourself safe, like if you get to that level of despair where you cannot, and sometimes people are really privileged and blessed to actually have people in their life who they can call, who know them. Great. If you don't have those people who can hold you accountable and who can take you to the emergency room, who can, who can help you schedule a therapy appointment, who can do those things? Take care of you, because your life is important and you have loved ones who care about you. So, especially if this is something that happens seasonally, make sure you get the help that you need, because you might need to get some psych meds and, if you know, you'll never know what might work until you try it. So I think that that's super, super important.
Speaker 1:I want to encourage you guys to take care of yourself as this new winter weather season is coming upon us. All of the Thanksgiving, the christmases, the new years make this a great season for you. Don't allow past traumas, bad breakups, just life and life's bs make you not be the best version of yourself, so I wanted to give you those tidbits. Um, if you would like to connect with me on instagram, you can. Can find me at CN chef underscore Chronicles. You can also find me Chronicles of a therapist on YouTube. Please subscribe if you have not and, as always, allow your passion to prepare your purpose and I will catch you guys on the next episode.