Pia K. Hansen: From northern Norway, a SAD case of denial
There’s a researcher in Norway who’s had it up to here with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Enough already, he says: We northernmost people are fine. We are no more or less depressed or SAD than anybody else, and we are getting really tired of the rest of the world assuming that all we do is crawl around in a haze of depression up here.
Right before Christmas, a handful of Scandinavian news stories about SAD caught my eye because of where they came from: northern Norway, in the middle of the darkest winter.
At the University of Tromsoe, professor of psychiatry Dr. Vidje Hansen (no relation) has spent years researching SAD.
Hansen does not question the reality of depression, or seasonal depression, but he says the daylight connection many take for fact is simply hogwash and that the questionnaire used to diagnose SAD is worthless.
To illustrate this point, he joined with an Italian researcher, Greta Brancaleoni, and they compared the seasonal mood swings between groups of Italians in Ferrara and Norwegians in Tromsoe.
Their research indicates that the Italians have many more mood swings and changes in behavior than the Norwegians, regardless of how much daylight they are exposed to. How is that for enforcing a stereotype about temperamental Italians?
Hansen’s findings fall completely opposite of the theory behind SAD – or winter depression – which goes roughly like this: The less daylight you are exposed to, the more likely you are to have feelings of depression.
Hansen’s research groups of Norwegians and Italians agree on two things: November is by far the most despicable month of the year, but they really like December, even though it’s much darker. Surprisingly, the Norwegians do not like May, when spring – and daylight – is supposed to arrive.
“I have lived in Northern Norway for 30 years, and people are much more blue in the mood when the expected and hoped for summer never arrives, than they are in the dark winter time which they know will come,” Hansen writes in an e-mail. He adds, “This February has been beautiful, with clean white snow and a lot of sun, quite contrary to what Norman Rosenthal seems to think.”
Norman E. Rosenthal, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School, is considered the father of SAD. He says he doesn’t know of Hansen’s work, but he assures me he has nothing against Norwegians and that Henrik Ibsen is one of his favorite playwrights.
SAD is real, it exists in Norway, and there are several Norwegian psychologists and psychiatrists who can testify to that, writes Rosenthal in an e-mail.
Doesn’t it seem odd that the doctors and researchers who live and work in the darkest parts of the planet didn’t discover SAD?
Rosenthal has an explanation for that:
“In the severe winters of the far north, perhaps people were too slowed down to have the energy and creativity to describe the syndrome as they are too busy just getting by.”
And that’s just the kind of statement that will make Hansen blow a gasket.
“SAD, or winter depression, is a constructed disease,” writes Hansen on the University’s Web site. “If enough experts tell people that this many have a winter depression, then people may start looking at everyday problems as an illness, and then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
So, there you have it. SAD or not, it’s always interesting to get a second opinion.
It was the pending switch to daylight-saving time that got me thinking about Hansen again the other day. In case you wonder, yes, they do have daylight-saving time in Norway. Travel Web sites say it makes for “long and wonderful evenings in the summer.” I guess we can all agree that’s a good thing. Don’t forget to set your clock ahead when you go to bed tonight.