Gloomy spring prolongs depression for SAD victims

By ROBERT GUTTERSOHN

rguttersohn@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

Andy Santor and Frank Marsco lived in Florida last winter and returned to the Valley in April just in time for several days of darkness and rain.

“You don’t see sunshine for a week; it’s terrible,” Marsco said while leaning against the door frame in the Mill Creek Golf Course clubhouse. Outside, only a couple of golfers were on the course.

Santor, the pro golfer on staff at the public course, said he’s had fewer clients, and he’s swinging the golf club considerably less than usual himself.

“Since I’ve been back April 6, I’ve seen a handful of good days,” Santor said last week before the return of sunshine over the weekend. More showers and thunderstorms, however, are forecast today through Saturday.

The two shrugged off the weather and felt most northern Ohioans do likewise.

“Everybody seems to be taking the attitude of, what choice do you have?” Santor said.

But for others in the Valley, the gloom of April and May is harder to just shrug off.

“These cloudy days are holding us hostage,” said Cathy Grizinski, associate director of Help Hotline Crisis Center.

Grizinski said the center, which serves the four-county region with 24-hour mental-health support, has seen a call-volume increase of 19 percent compared with this time last year. She said normally the numbers fall after winter.

The increase could be due to seasonal affective disorder. The National Institutes of Health defines it as “episodes of depression that occur every year during fall or winter.”

Although hot-line staff members do not diagnose SAD, they tell people to look for a two-year pattern.

“They should get psychiatric help if they feel depressed in the fall and winter, and come spring they feel fine,” Grizinksi said.

Anil Nallari, a Youngstown psychiatrist, said there is no medication for SAD.

“We are seeing them come in but not treating them,” Nallari said. Instead, he tells them to start light therapy — a therapy Grizinski believes to be the most effective remedy.

“Light seems to trigger all the good systems the best,” she said.

The NIH recommends use of a fluorescent light in the morning that mimics the sunrise. Winter messes up the body’s circadian rhythm because of its shorter days. The light acts to put the body back into that rhythm.

“It’s about the light and the dark,” Grizinski said. “And because we are a 24-hour system, naturally, we try to fight it because of work.”

Another key to defeating SAD is increased exercise.

In Niles, walkers at the Eastwood Mall use its circular, one-mile route to their advantage.

“When I come here to work at 8 a.m., they’re already done and leaving,” said Gloria Pozega, a registered nurse at St. Joseph Health Center at the mall. “Some people do one lap while others do five.”

Pozega said hundreds walk, and hundreds more use its indoor exercise room. St. Joe’s, part of Humility of Mary Health Partners, provides blood tests. And one consistency she noticed recently is the lack of Vitamin D — a vitamin linked with mood. “Pretty much across the board, everyone’s Vitamin D is down,” she said. The body absorbs Vitamin D via sunlight. But on cloudy days, Pozega said to take Vitamin D supplements in addition to multivitamins. For other tips on how to beat SAD, she recommended hobbies, a support system and volunteering.

“Use the gift that God’s given them,” Pozega said. “Reach out and help others, and that will in turn make them feel good.”