seasonal affective disorder: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for December 17 is:

seasonal affective disorder \SEE-zun-ul-a-FEK-tiv-dis-OR-der\ noun
: depression that tends to recur as the days grow shorter during the fall and winter

Example sentence:
Call it seasonal affective disorder,
Call it the winter blues --
But what ever you call it,
Don?t let it get the better of you.

Did you know?
"Seasonal affective disorder" hasn't been recognized as a medical condition for very long, and the term has only become part of the general English vocabulary during the past two decades or so (its earliest documented appearance in print dates from 1983). "Seasonal affective disorder" (abbreviated SAD) is also sometimes called "Winter Depression," and some researchers describe it as a "hibernation reaction" in which sensitive individuals react to the decreasing amounts of light and the colder temperatures of fall and winter. The term "seasonal affective disorder" is sometimes used casually of the mild blahs that so many of us experience when the days grow short, but true SAD actually goes beyond the poetic "winter blues" -- it is a diagnosable form of depression that can be quite debilitating.

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