(1078) Seasonal light disorder

Seasonal light disorder is one of the 27 physical symptoms related to the dyslexic-autism spectrum. I remember writing about it many years ago.

I'll cover it again because it came as a thought at least twice the last 24 hours. For me, who grew up very near the equator, it did not affect me for 21 years. The first spring I spent in Virginia, I became a totally different person. During the plum rain, or peach (couldn't be sure, as in Taiwan I read about 'mei' rain which mean plum. But in North and South Carolina, I saw lots of peach blossoms along the highway during spring breaks.), I was snapping at all my close friends, a number of them joked about PMS. One was astute enough to mark my out bursts and note down the weather of that day. After the rains were over, she confronted me and asked about my family medical history.

Around that time, I read about my cousin's suicide attempt in Northern China. My cousin grew up in a small town one hour north of Canton or Kwangchow in Southern China. When he went to a University up north, he became clinically depressed. My uncle, a urinary surgeon, had him diagnosed and managed to move him back south to save his life.

On the same side of the family, I have a girl cousin who became weepy during the infamous haze season due to the burning forest in Sumatra many years ago. She did not spend any extended period out of Malaysia, therefore her experience was limited to that few weeks of limited inconvenience. I remember that was the only year when visibility was affected enough to bring in a poor harvest of guava( a tropical fruit).

The generation after mine: only my eldest brother's two children went abroad for studies. My nephew fared alright in the dark winters in UK. My niece failed and was depressed for quite a while after returning to sunny Malaysia. According to my nephew, he thinks she was reclusive and clinically depressed in the winter semester of September-January.

If a person knows that he or she has the disorder but needs to stay for extended period in a place of limited sunlight, then the simple solution of a tanning lamp emitting light of the correct wavelengths and a few hours of being exposed to such light daily would take care of the brain's need of light.