A new study on seasonal affective disorder, published in Clinical Psychological Science, casts doubt on the common diagnosis and wildly popular self-diagnosis. Researchers analyzed data from a 2006 CDC survey of 34,294 American adults looking to see whether respondents who experienced low light exposure (in our northernmost regions) reported being depressed at a higher rate, writes Gabby Bess.
They also checked to see whether these same respondents answered the questionnaire during the winter months, when many people report being depressed more frequently. In the end, there was no indication that either light or season affected respondents. In other words, SAD may be a ‘well entrenched folk theory.’
