SAD seasonal affective disorder
A case study on a girl who had SAD, Seasonal affective disorder the girls name is selena and she is a 23 year old student in Vancouver. Selenas mood was directly effective by the amount of sunlight she received. Once she moved to Vancouver and wasn’t exposed to enough sunlight she became very lethargic and she had no drive to do anything she wanted to basically hibernate like a bear. Her mood was completely different from when she was exposed to sunlight. Basically the lack of sunlight brought her into a state that was very unproductive. When the spring came around and the sun was more present then the low energy problems eased.
After reading this article i was pretty surprised to read that SAD was a mental condition. AT first i wound’t refer to this as a medical condition because it seems so minor and not problematic but this case study is a source that shows sunlight has a direct effect on people and their moods or attitudes. Also the person’s happiness depends on the right amount of sunlight especially in Selena’s case. I believe this case study shows us how SAD should be treated because some people don’t have the luxury of living in great weather condition areas. If you don’t have a lot of money, you don’t have a lot of power over where you are living. therefore, this disorder may be found in lower class people. Anyways the condition is a mental illness and should be treated because of the many cases.
In conclusion, sometimes when i read about a condition like this i look at it as minor and maybe people are looking for an easy way out like taking medication for this disorder based on the weather. However, i come from a place where the weather is nice and you have to have money to live in this area. I know many people live in poverty and can’t choose and pick where they live. People may end up in places with little sunlight and this disorder may come up. SAD should be take seriously because many people are getting it and if there is something that could help then it could give people better lives and improve lifestyles.
http://essays.org.uk/psychology/sad/4paper/
Kristian Alonso
sociologyofmentalhealth 
I have heard about SAD ever since I came to Oregon. Like you, I grew up in a very sunny place (Denver has nearly 300 days of sun every year) and I had never even considered not getting enough sun to be a potential problem. My sophomore year here though I even noticed my mood impacted by the weather. After reading your post I realized that this is a real mental disorder even though it didn’t feel like a serious problem at the time. I think it is important to make everyone aware of this disease and help prevent the number of people impacted by it.
Claire Biglin
I think it is interesting that you associate SAD with social class, Although I can see how this could be the case in certain circumstances, because some people are forced to live in a place due to their SES I think it is a bit more circumstantial, when someone moves for school for example. I am from Bend Oregon and we have 300 plus days of sun a year and when I moved to eugene I knew there would be rain but I didn’t think about how much I would miss the sun. After a year of living here I became a less productive version of myself then I was at home and it wasn’t until my friend from california was diagnosed with seasonal depression that I started to realize that I was affected by the gloom as well. Once I started visiting home I realized that I was much happier and more productive when I was in my home town. Point being, I think there is a lot more to SAD then just SES and sometimes its personal choices, maybe with unintended consequences, like becoming seasonally depressed while away at college in rainy Eugene. Just thought I would throw a different perspective in the mix.
Hannah Ross