Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is diagnosed by comparing a person's symptom history to the criteria defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).
The DSM-IV considers SAD to be a “specifier,” or subcategory, of a major depressive episode. So, in order to be diagnosed with it, a person must first of all meet the DSM-IV criteria for a major depressive episode:
Within a period of at least two weeks, a person must have experienced five or more of the following symptoms almost every day:
- Depressed mood
- Significantly decreased interest in activities once enjoyed
- Changes in weight or appetite
- Sleeping too little or too much
- Either a restlessness in or slowing down of physical movements
- Fatigue or loss of energy
- Feelings of worthlessness or guilt .
- Problems with concentrating or making decisions
- Thoughts of death or suicide
These symptoms should be different from the person's previous functioning and at least one of the symptoms must be one of the first two symptoms listed.
The symptoms should not be better accounted for by a medical condition, drug use, grief or another another mental disorder If these criteria fit, the following criteria would also need to be met to obtain a seasonal pattern specifier:
- The episode must occur at a specific time of year, but not be obviously related to seasonal stresses, such as holidays.
- A full remission of symptoms should occur at a characteristic time of year, such as in the spring when the days begin to lengthen.
- The person should have had at least two episodes in the past two years that met these criteria, but no episodes of non-seasonal depression.
- Over the course of the person's life, the number of seasonal episodes of major depression should outnumber the episodes of non-seasonal depression.[/li>
Source:
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 1994.
