# Is there an opposite to SAD? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2017, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001 "2017-02-28T01:14:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/1 "2017-02-28T01:14:07Z")
The thread in MPSIMS about SAD reminded me that I’d been thinking about asking a question: is there an opposite to SAD? Personally, I prefer grey skies and short days, especially with snow coming down. That’s my perfect type of weather. A perfect day is when it’s grey and it’s difficult to tell when the horizon changes to the grey-purple sky, and then it’s all dark by 4.30 pm. What bothers me, especially in January, are bright afternoons. I literally get anxious when I’m out and about on those types of days in January and February, after the grey days of November and December. I gradually get over the anxiety from bright days by April. Is this sort of reaction to bright days common, as SAD seems to be for some? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/2 "2017-02-28T01:47:11Z")
Poking around on Google, it looks like it doesn’t have a widely accepted name like SAD does. Some call it summer depression. Others call it reverse-SAD or summer-SAD. The Mayo Clinic just lumps both under SAD - after all, the S in SAD is for seasonal, not summer. The Mayo Clinic’s web site does list symptoms specific to fall-winter SAD and symptoms specific to spring-summer SAD. One of the pages I looked at said that it occurs at roughly 1/10th the frequency of SAD, so not as common, but then not completely rare either. Some web pages to get you started: > **[Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) - Symptoms and causes](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20364651)** > > This type of depression is related to changes in seasons and begins and ends at about the same times every year. > **[Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder: Why Do People Get SAD in Summer?](https://gizmodo.com/reverse-seasonal-affective-disorder-why-do-people-get-1585673865)** > > By now you've probably heard of SAD, or seasonal affective disorder. Each winter, some people become a little bit melancholy, perhaps owing to the decrease in daylight hours. But there's a second group of people who become sad in the summer. How does... > **[Tips for Summer Depression](https://www.webmd.com/depression/summer-depression)** > > Summer depression is more common than you may think. WebMD explains why you might feel more stressed and sad in the warmer months -- and offers coping tips. > **[Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder: SAD in the Summer](https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/brain-babble/201501/reverse-seasonal-affective-disorder-sad-in-the-summer)** > > Many get seasonal affective disorder in the winter—but some do over the summer. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/3 "2017-02-28T02:57:17Z")
Let’s call it “Eskimosis.” ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/4 "2017-02-28T03:43:07Z")
It’s not Winter Affected Disorder, it’s Seasonal Affected Disorder. Doesn’t that mean they’d both fall under the same name? Whether you’re affected by the winter or summer? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/5 "2017-02-28T03:50:59Z")
[Porphyria](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyria#Vampires_and_werewolves)? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/6 "2017-02-28T16:07:26Z")
“Being wrong.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/7 "2017-02-28T22:28:05Z")
I don’t think it is that common to dislike sunny days, but it sounds like a preference for milder whether as opposed to an altered mood. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/8 "2017-03-01T00:09:02Z")
Whatever you call it, I have it. Endless days of brilliant sun and heat depress me. The glare makes my head ache. The heat makes me feel sick, and I stay indoors all day to escape it. I can’t sleep in the heat without air conditioning. Then the huge electric bill depresses me even more! I’m far happier in the winter when it’s cold and damp and gray. My people were Norwegian, so I want to think that that has something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Fruitbat2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5e9695/32.png) [@Fruitbat2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fruitbat2)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/9 "2017-03-01T00:23:24Z")
I think I will have to hunt someone down who hates summer since I hate winter and seasonally trade houses with them. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/10 "2017-03-01T14:21:14Z")
We could call it GLAD for Glaring Light Affective Disorder. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/11 "2017-03-01T15:29:42Z")
Seasonal Antithesis Disorder ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/12 "2017-03-02T01:50:07Z")
I don’t know. My daughter, now 31 years old, truly believes she belongs in Seattle. Not because she knows anything about how nice Seattle is or isn’t. She just knows that it rains there all the time, and she desires that. She’s a southern California girl. Sunshine and moovee stars. She just wants it to rain. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/13 "2017-03-02T17:11:27Z")
> [@Fruitbat2](#): > > I think I will have to hunt someone down who hates summer since I hate winter and seasonally trade houses with them. 🙂 Depends on whose summer. We were in Manitou Springs, on the edge of the Front Range, where it was in the upper 80s and not too bad. The next day, we headed east and had to stop for gas at, like, Quinter, about 60 miles into Kansas. I got out of the air-conditioned car and, wham, I could not breathe. I mean, it was some three thousand feet lower, so there was plenty more oxygen, but it was all hiding behind water molecules in the air. Summer tends to be far more tolerable west of the Great Plains. > [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](#): > > I don’t know. My daughter, now 31 years old, truly believes she belongs in Seattle. Not because she knows anything about how nice Seattle is or isn’t. She just knows that it rains there all the time, and she desires that. She’s a southern California girl. Sunshine and moovee stars. She just wants it to rain. Tell her to try Eureka. They have seriously depressing weather. We were there in the middle of July and it got up to a blistering 65°. That is, after the fog burned off, around 4:30 in the afternoon. Seattle gets actual summer, and even the Oregon coast gets warmer than Eureka. And besides, the PNW is already over-saturated with Californians. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/14 "2018-03-27T04:32:04Z")
Happened again this weekend. Sunday morning and early afternoon, it was heavily overcast, looked like it could snow a fair bit, skies were purple grey. Clan Piper went out for a walk, threw snowballs, built snow forts. Just a great morning. Then all afternoon I started feeling antsy and anxious. Good mood was gone and I was worried. Not about anything in particular. Looked out the window behind me and realized the weather had changed. It was now a bright, bright day, with the sun shining in off the banks of snow, straight into my room. Weird and depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/15 "2018-03-27T04:59:04Z")
Ain’t no cure for the summertime blues. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/16 "2018-03-27T05:01:51Z")
Surely it would be called something like Winter Acclimatizaton Dysphoria, except, with a less ugly acronym. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/17 "2018-03-27T05:26:04Z")
Light levels affect how “down” or “up” your body, brain and mind are. While the “down” is pretty simple in making for low mood and energy, the “up” has at least 2 possible channels: Good mood/energy or threat/aggression. In your case, it gets channeled into an amorphous impression of a threat in the form of anxiety. The light causes too much gain (and thereby self-noise) in the threat perception circuits of your brain. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/18 "2018-03-27T06:31:04Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > Whatever you call it, I have it. > > Endless days of brilliant sun and heat depress me. The glare makes my head ache. The heat makes me feel sick, and I stay indoors all day to escape it. I can’t sleep in the heat without air conditioning. Then the huge electric bill depresses me even more! > > I’m far happier in the winter when it’s cold and damp and gray. > > My people were Norwegian, so I want to think that that has something to do with it. I opened this thread sort of expecting it to be looking for an ‘opposite’ in the sense of uplifted state in winter, rather than depressed state in summer. The Norwegians do seem to have a term for that - [koselig](https://www.fastcompany.com/3052970/the-norwegian-secret-to-enjoying-a-long-winter). (I don’t want to downplay the involuntary, chemical side to SAD of course - maybe it’s truer to say that \*koselig \*is a cultural remedy for SAD) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/19 "2018-03-27T06:59:59Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > …grey skies and short days, especially with snow coming down. That’s my perfect type of weather. A perfect day is when it’s grey and it’s difficult to tell when the horizon changes to the grey-purple sky, and then it’s all dark by 4.30 pm. Funny, this is precisely the type of weather that made me pack up and leave Regina for good. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001/20 "2018-03-27T08:14:19Z")
Whenever they have articles like these… > [@Mangetout](#): > > I opened this thread sort of expecting it to be looking for an ‘opposite’ in the sense of uplifted state in winter, rather than depressed state in summer. > The Norwegians do seem to have a term for that - [koselig](https://www.fastcompany.com/3052970/the-norwegian-secret-to-enjoying-a-long-winter). … they always have this quote: > [@](#): > > Notes Leibowitz: “There’s a saying that there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” … and I always wonder what good clothing for a blizzard is. I could just as well ask about good clothing for a hurricane or thunderstorm, I suppose, but this is about winter, so I’ll ask about blizzards: What is good clothing for zero-visibility blowing snow creating drifts taller than you are? Because if there’s a magic parka which will ensure I can always see through whiteout conditions, I’d like to know about it. Of course, where I live now, blizzards aren’t really a concern. Neither are serious thunderstorms, though they do happen. And I know what good clothing for fire season includes: A respirator, googles, and, if you get too far into it, a mylar blanket and an emergency beacon. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-opposite-to-sad/781001.md?page=2)