Talking to psychologists about the neuroticism and anxiety that can spike at the end of summer.
Photo: SamsonPhotoArt/Getty Images/iStockphoto August is hell. Yes, the calendar is a construct, and no, the weather isn’t necessarily all that different between July 27 and August 3, but each year I find that with the arrival of August 1 comes a crushing ennui that does not lift until September. There are no federal holidays, but nobody anywhere is doing any work. The days start getting shorter, which is just as well, because there’s nothing to do, and what there is to do, I’m sick of.
Not exactly, says Stephen Ferrando, director of psychiatry at Westchester Medical Center. Some variation in mood and mental well-being from season to season is common, but to be diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder, one must meet a number of very specific criteria. “In order to be diagnosed with a mood disorder, you have to have at least two weeks of pretty persistent symptoms that don’t really get better,” says Ferrando.
That doesn’t mean that August depression isn’t its own special, awful thing. Ferrando aptly describes it as the “August blues, which are sort of like the Sunday night blues for a month.” If you’re a summer hater, you’re antsy to be done with it and move on already, and if you’re a summer lover, you’re probably feeling some panic about it coming to an end.
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