Many people are familiar with the expression autumn blues or spring aggravation. And these definitions apply not only to people with mental disabilities. The state of sadness at the end of summer affects almost everyone, almost everyone experienced a nagging feeling of melancholy.
Why do we fall into a blues in the fall? First of all, it is worth noting that many natural phenomena affect the human body, including those associated with a change in the time cycle – full moon, new moon, increased sun activity and, of course, the change of the season of the year.
Closer to autumn, all processes in the body begin to slow down, including metabolism, the body begins a global restructuring, we consume less fluid, because the body produces less moisture; the season of summer vitamins is coming to an end and vitamins that have been consumed in greater quantities are running out. The body begins to conserve resources, preparing itself for a long hibernation.
Scientists have proven that in the fall, some changes occur in the lymphoid tissue, due to which the circulatory system suffers. It is in the fall that a low content of monocytes and lymphocytes in the blood, a minimum weight of the thymus and spleen, and a low content of immunoglobulins in the blood are noted.
Is there a reason to classify seasonal depression as a disease, and if so, how to treat it?
Alexey Geger, Development Director of the St. Petersburg Regional Branch of the All-Russian Public Organization of Disabled People “New Opportunities”, Candidate of Sociological Sciences:
“The fact is that there is no such diagnosis as seasonal depression in the international classifier of diseases.
Unfortunately, a certain substitution of concepts is now accepted in society, when a simple decrease in mood or the so-called autumn blues is called depression. There are strict criteria for depression: this is Karl Jaspers’ triad – actually lowered mood, slowing down of thinking and qualitative changes in the content of thoughts: everything was bad, now it is bad, it will be even worse, I am to blame for these troubles, as well as slowdown in the motor sphere.
According to the specialist, there are additional signs of depression: sleep disturbance (drowsiness or insomnia), a sharp decrease in working capacity due to a loss of strength and imaginary impairment of memory and attention (just all mental resources at the time of depression are, as it were, blocked), decreased libido and appetite. Constipation, palpitations, dry mouth are common.
It is often very difficult for such patients to even get out of bed and perform basic hygiene procedures, for example, take a shower. Such conditions, of course, require medical supervision and drug correction with antidepressants.
If we talk about the autumn blues, then rather we are talking about the depletion of the body, asthenization, and in this case it is necessary to take it as a rule in the off-season, that is, in the spring and autumn, drink a course of B vitamins with trace elements, nootropics, neuroprotectors, the specialist notes.
