A Tennessee Tech Mental Health Counselor advising students to monitor their behavior and utilize campus resources to combat seasonal affective disorder during the transition to spring.
Masters in Behavioral Science Counselor Seressa Spencer provides mental health services to the university population through a new state grant. Spencer said the academic calendar aligns directly with the typical timeframe for seasonal depression, creating additional challenges for students taking exams.
“I think seasonal affective disorder or SAD is really important for student populations because SAD is a form of depression,” Spencer said. “It usually begins as early as October and lasts through April. So I think whenever we think about students, we don’t really think about the year as being October through April, but that’s really our fall semester and spring semester for students. And especially through April is during times of midterms and finals. So when we’re thinking about seasonal affective disorder, it plays a big role on mental health and the impact of midterms and finals.”
Spencer said students experiencing the condition often suffer from fatigue, oversleeping, and weight gain from overeating. Spencer said behavior changes, such as eating at midnight or experiencing thoughts of hopelessness, are key indicators of the disorder.
“With the seasonal affective disorder, this typically does happen in winter months where we are not able to be outside as often, we’re not getting as much vitamin D from the sun as possible,” Spencer said. “So we have some oversleeping, some fatigue, the overeating, maybe gaining some weight just because it’s the winter months. And whenever we add that to the factor of a student kind of going through their seasonal changes, missing home life, not having the best opportunities to get the healthiest foods, maybe not having a great schedule to be able to get a lot of sleep, it adds to a lot more weight of what the seasonal affective disorder is.”
Students can combat the condition by spending time outside to increase dopamine and endorphins, which helps manage anxiety and depression. Other treatment options include individual therapy, medication management, daily exercise, and light therapy.
“Being outside and fighting seasonal depression is vital,” Spencer said. “Whenever we are actively moving around and we are gaining dopamine and we are being able to get endorphins running, it is actually really helpful for anxiety and for depression to be able to make us feel like we’re being productive, like we’re being able to have control on our environment, especially in a school setting where we don’t have that much control.”
Tennessee Tech offers assistance through its counseling center and the J.J. Oakley Health Services Clinic. A partnership with the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services is also funding random campus events to provide education and support.
“I definitely think that this is something that is pretty common,” Spencer said. “I think a lot of people whenever we get into those depressive states, we think that we’re alone and we tend to isolate during those times. So to the people that are feeling that way, reach out. You are not alone, you are absolutely in the right of feeling the way that you are. Let’s talk about it.”
Students seeking help can contact the campus health clinics to connect with a trusted provider.