SAD

S.A.D is an acronym for seasonal affective disorder. This used to be referred to as the winter blues. Short days, long nights, cold, windy and snowy conditions make some feel blue. My beautiful wife will inevitably tell me that we must go somewhere warm and sunny during the long winters of the Northeast.

The holidays are also a source of winter depression. The joy and festive mood of the Christmas season reminds us of the loved ones who are not with us. Military personnel serving in war zones or on distant bases, family in far off cities, towns and foreign countries, and family and friends who have passed leave us bereft and aching.

The economy has idled millions of our fellow citizens. The number of Americans who have had their homes foreclosed is staggering. What parent wouldn't feel depressed when faced with a Christmas among strangers and no presents for their children.

I want to cure the winter blues. Isn't that what a physician is trained and sworn to do? SAD is treatable. Special whole spectrum lights can affect the parts of the brain that cause the sadness and lack of energy associated with SAD. In severe cases antidepressant medications may be prescribed and are usually effective.

In the ER, the number of psychiatric patients often increases around Christmas and New Year's. The staff provides a warm bed, food, a TV for entertainment and medications for our depressed, schizophrenic, bipolar, substance abusing patients. Their stay in the ER is prolonged because of the dearth of beds in the psychiatric hospitals.

To my gentle readers, I would make a request. Spread the joy of the holiday. Be kind to all you encounter. Donate food, clothes, toys and money. Volunteering costs you only some time and yet yields great rewards for the recipients and the givers. Be sensitive to those who are feeling the void of a missing loved one. Kind words, a hug if appropriate, and prayers if one is so motivated.

My wife and I will spend Christmas eve with family. Tomorrow we will visit my nonagenarian mother in the nursing home. "It's a wonderful life" is on TV tomorrow night. We will sit together, speak the dialogue along with Jimmy Steward and Donna Reed, and cry at the ending.

Merry Chistmas. Feliz Navidad. Chung Mung Giang Sinh. Boas Festose Feliz Ano Novo. Kala Christouyenna. Joyeux Noel. Soursdey Noel. Buone Feste Natalizie.

Peace on Earth!