Preliminary Evidence Points to Affective Disorder Triggered by Summer Weather

Abstract

COLD SHOWERS, long a folk medicine to lessen libido, may become part of therapy to restore sexual desire, positive thinking, and motivation lost to some persons suffering from depression, according to a preliminary study by investigators at the National Institute of Mental Health in Rockville, Md ( Am J Psychiatry 1987;144:1602-1603). The report adds to a growing body of evidence incriminating dysfunctions of energy regulation in the etiology of affective disorders. It also raises the possibility of simple, nonpharmacologic treatments—such as partial sleep deprivation (please see accompanying article on p 959), phototherapy, or changes in ambient temperature—for at least some of them. This line of research garnered attention by introducing the syndrome known as seasonal affective disorder: recurring winter depression. The syndrome has been known for nearly 70 years (Kraepelin E [Barclay RM (trans)], in Robertson GM, Livingstone E, Livingstone S [eds]: Manic Depressive Illness and Paranoia . Edinburgh, E & S