Summer depression: how we recognize them and what helps against it

“If you were summer now ‘, then I would be after putting on my shirt and then off to the sea” Pohlmann sings in his pop classic-and takes up the attitude towards life of many people. We long for the warm summer nights in the cold season and can hardly wait to finally experience long days at the bathing lake and enjoy the pleasantly warm sun rays on our skin. Yes, we Germans love summer. According to a representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency, he is the favorite season of 41 percent of those surveyed, spring prefer 30 percent.

So it is almost social consensus to celebrate the warm season. As soon as the sun shines and the temperatures rise, it should also do the mood. But what if the opposite happens? If you would like to have your peace and quiet? Of course there are also bad days in summer, even when the weather is fine.

But if the days develop into weeks or even months, then one speaks of summer depression. It is a form of seasonal-affective disorders (SAD), which also includes more common winter depression. Both are mental illnesses in which the symptoms only occur at a certain season or are increasingly evident in the corresponding period. Summer depression is much more difficult to recognize than such and is often overlooked. So that this does not happen to you, we answer the most important questions about the disease.

Summer depression has been known for more than 40 years. Nevertheless, the phenomenon has not been well researched to this day. There are various theories about the development of the disease, which can essentially be divided into two causes.

On the one hand, scientists assume that different lighting and temperature conditions affect our hormonal balance. For example, we can observe this well in winter depression: here the lack of light ensures an imbalance of the neurotransmitters in the brain and thus favors the development of depression. In summer exactly the opposite ensures hormonal chaos. Due to the stronger light intensity, our body releases less from our sleep hormone melatonin. And some people react with mood fluctuations, which in the worst case can consolidate to summer depression.

“Apart from that, stress is a factor that favors the emergence of depression,” says Andreas Hagemann, specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy in an interview with the German Press Agency. If you have the expectation in summer that you have to be as happy as everyone else, mean the great pressure. Especially when you feel anything but happy. Especially introverted people are also under pressure in summer to take part in events – even if they often rob them of more energy than gives. In addition, depressive symptoms in contrast to the cheerful and active people in summer sometimes appear significantly more clearly and so many affected people only recognize their illness, although it may have already announced itself in winter.

With the summer depression, as with the season -independent form of the disease, it is also: in principle everyone can get depression. With regard to summer depression, however, there are some risk factors. So today it is known that a total of four to six percent of the total population suffer from it at least once in their lives – especially young women between the ages of 20 and 40. The reason: The female hormone system is much more complex than the male and is therefore more susceptible to fluctuations. People with bipolar disorders also suffer more often from seasonal depression.

Depression can always comment in a variety of ways. The basic symptoms include depression and exhaustion, often accompanied by sleep problems and social withdrawal. In contrast to winter depression, which is characterized by fatigue and increased appetite, those affected suffer from summer depression more of unrest and appetite. In addition, symptoms such as nervousness, lack of drive, loss of interest and concentration disorders occur. As with classic depression, physical complaints and a reduced self -esteem and pronounced feelings of guilt can also occur. Anyone who observes these or similar symptoms in summer at least two years in a row could suffer from summer depression.

Anyone who discovers symptoms of summer depression should definitely not stand by and see how the “Summertime Sadness” puts a dark shadow over the sunshine. There are many ways to get yourself out of the summer low. If you manage to accept your situation, you lay a good basis for healing. Because as soon as those affected fight their fears and worries and may even be ashamed of it, the clouds in the sky only become even darker. The same can also happen on vacation, because the disease travels and may get even worse in a foreign environment with happy and happy people. Instead, the following three things could help:

One of the greatest dangers of depression is social isolation. Because if you disappear into loneliness, it is difficult to find out alone. In these cases – and if the symptoms should last longer or worsen for other reasons – there is always the option of contacting the family doctor. This usually helps to classify the symptoms and, if in doubt, establish contact with a psychotherapist. The good news at the end: Depression is usually very easy to treat today.