sUMMER DEPRESSION

5...4...3...2...1...SUMMER BREAK. I’m sure we’ve all counted down the hours until school, work or University was over and we could relax in the blissful sunshine. Summer is stereotypically a time filled with joy, excitement, relaxation and happiness. But not for everyone. Personally, summer plays with my depression and I find it an incredibly difficult few months. We’ve all heard of SAD in the Winter but what about when it’s the other way around? “Summer SAD” has basically all the same symptoms; lethargy, pain, anxiety, feeling guilty, hopeless and even suicidal. The major difference that I have found however, is the expectation of those around you. 

“It’s sunny outside, why are you still in bed!”
“You need to make the most of the good weather”
“Why are you so sad? It’s a lovely day”
“Why don’t you have any plans? It’s the summer holidays”
“Well you’ve wasted your summer”

These are just a few of the hurtful, but incorrect, questions and statements I’ve received over the last few summers. I knew I should be making plans with my friends or family but felt like they wouldn’t want to be around the less enthusiastic version of me. I didn’t want to ruin their summer too. This then produced an endless cycle where I felt guilty for wasting a day or for ruining another’s but I also felt frustrated that I couldn’t just force myself to have fun like everyone else. This pressure to enjoy myself exacerbated already difficult to deal with depressive symptoms. After all it was summertime, you couldn’t be sad right?

Wrong. Your feelings are totally valid. No mental illness goes away just because the sun has decided to shine. For some, it actually only comes out when summertime comes around. From personal experience there are 4 or 5 reasons I’ve found this to be true:
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1. Everyone else expects you to be happy.  As I said above, everyone is always soexcited for the summer holidays because what isn’t there to look forward to! When my friends see 11 long weeks to go out for lunch, for drinks, to the beach, the park, to travel the world and of course, to go clubbing, I see 11 long weeks of stress and sadness. 11 weeks of feeling nothing. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy the holidays we take and I’m incredibly lucky to go on them but my brain refuses to process this happiness and instead turns it into a situation where I feel scared to be sad. That’s tip number 1; regardless of if you think it will make the people around you feel ‘down’, reach out about how you’re feeling and ask for whatever it is you think might help you. Do not suppress how you feel just because it is sunny.
   
   
   
2. Revealing clothing. It’s hot outside. You’re sticky and sweaty in jeans and a t-shirt. For many of us though, we’d rather sweat through the jumper than strip to a pair of shorts, or worse a bikini. Body image is exacerbated for everyone but if you suffer from low self-esteem and low mood or have scars from self-harm, the pressure to dress “skimpily” can be incredibly overwhelming and turn a fun day at the beach into a nightmare. Personally, I have found the solution to this to be to find long sleeved jumpsuits, playsuits or light tops that cover my scars and my stomach. That way I’m not too warm but I’m also not fearful of facing the outside world. Jewellery such as anklets, bracelets etc can also be good to help cover scars if you want to go for a dip in the pool without facing the dreaded stares from strangers.
   
   
   
3. Just the fact that it’s sunny. Now there is actual science to this symptom. Depression, especially seasonal, makes sufferers more sensitive to changes in the weather. This means when the sun comes out, many people feel a sense of dread or distress for no obvious reason. The weather actually becomes a “trigger” making people miserable. Combine this chemical trick with feeling sweaty, warm and dehydrated and you have the perfect cocktail for three days in bed. Unfortunately I haven’t figured out how to conquer this one yet but Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques are very effective in altering your association between the sun and depression, allowing you to associate the good weather with good things rather than sorrow.
   
   
   
4. Family pressure. This relates to my earlier point a little but the minute summer comes around my Mum insists that we have activities planned for every single day. With depression that can be difficult as sometimes we just have days where everything is impossible. Although I try to push through 99% of them, when it hits me it paralyses me. On top of that, summer means more family time in general. This isn’t ideal when you come from a family with rocky relationships. My top tip here has to be to involve yourself in as much as you can in order to spend as little time in the house as necessary. I know this is contradictory to what I suggested earlier about lacking energy but getting out of the house, even just for 5 minutes, is one of the most vital changes you can make. If you can’t that’s okay, get up and brush your teeth. Take a shower. Read a book. Just keep busy and keep away from the family member who makes being at home difficult as much as possible. I found volunteering really helped as it wasn’t a job so if I was having a really down day, I could miss it but it felt like a commitment I had to challenge myself to attend. 

Now comes the trickier question of what to do about? Firstly, I always recommend speaking to someone. Whether that’s a counsellor, a therapist, your GP, a school teacher or University tutor, friends or family, reach out and explain how summer can make you feel. The more they know, the more they can try to understand and support you through the coming months. What else you might ask. Honestly I’m not sure. Some days just going for a walk with the dog helps whereas other days I need nothing more than to close my blinds and sleep the day away. However, I have tried to include some suggestions that make a difference, even if it’s just a little.

• Add structure if you can. Part of my depression is triggered by feeling hopeless and the lack of plans during the summer holidays exacerbates this. To combat this, give yourself a structure. Even if it’s just really basic such as setting what time you wake up, when you eat lunch and dinner and when you’ll go to bed, a routine can take away the sense of purposelessness and make summer feel a little less daunting.
  
  
  
• Related to what I just said, create a sleep schedule and stick to it. I know it’s tempting when you’ve been getting up at 6am for school to spend the entire 11 weeks in bed but this often makes depression worse. Instead, create a sleep schedule and train your brain to stick to it. I’m not saying forgo the lie-ins, I’m saying turn them into a routine. Try to get no less than 7 and not much more than 9 as a general rule and after a few weeks I promise you will feel a little bit more refreshed if nothing else.
  
  
  
• Make plans. Don’t feel pressured to attend them but make them regardless. Having things to look forward to with people who love you is never a negative.
  
  
  
• Drink. Drink. And drink some more. Being dehydrated affects your brain by causing a shortage of a chemical called tryptophan. As a result we become irritable and more susceptible to depression or anxiety. To combat this, I work out how much I should be drinking (As a general rule it’s 2 litres a day but you can calculate it specficially for you here: https://international.camelbak.com/en/hydrated/hydration-calculator) and put 2 bottles in the fridge, one in the freezer. This challenges me to try and drink what I prepared the night before and makes me far more conscious that I need to keep hydrated. Even if you’re having a down day, have a bottle beside your bed with some ice in it to keep cool.
  
  
  
• Try to eat foods that boost your mood, not sink it. We all love ice cream on a hot and sunny day but sugar is one of the most toxic factors in making depression that little bit worse. You don’t have to chuck chocolate altogether, just try and eat either less or choose dark. Instead focus on fruits, fish and nuts.
  
  
  
• This is a little bit of a weird one but I find nothing more therapeutic than wandering down to our local river and dipping my feet. I’m not sure there’s any science in this but the run of the water, the peace of the woods and the cooling sensation around my ankles instantly makes my mood a little less stressed.
  
  
  
• Try something new!! My final tip is to try something you’ve never done but always dreamed of. Me? I took up Boxing and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. New skills will build your confidence, your physical health and can help lift your mood as it not only acts as a distraction but allows forces your brain to rewire, to learn the new skill, which by effect helps some of the neurons to discard the association between summer and sadness and instead associate it with this positive new activity you enjoy.

Anonymous