Winter Blues, Revised and Updated: Seasonal Affective Disorder: What It Is and How to Overcome It: Amazon.ca: Norman E. Rosenthal MD: Books

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When days get shorter and colder, do you get gloomier? Do you have trouble waking up? Controlling your diet? Focusing on work and relationships? If so, you may be one of the millions of people who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD): changes in mood and behavior due to seasonal changes, such as feeling depressed in winter. Rosenthal, senior researcher at the National Institutes of Health and clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University, led the team that first described SAD. Now in his revised and updated Winter Blues, he describes SAD and how to overcome it. The book includes a self-diagnosis to see how severely seasonal changes affect you (or your child).

Rosenthal, author of St. John's Wort: The Herbal Way to Feeling Good, brings SAD to life with profiles of seasonal-slump sufferers. All of these people experienced dramatic improvement with light therapy--exposure to a special light box for 30 to 90 minutes a day. Winter Blues tells you everything you need to know about light boxes and other treatments, such as psychotherapy, antidepressant medications, herbs, vitamins, and the role of diet and exercise. Rosenthal includes many helpful extras, such as tips for dealing with the holidays and a sample letter requesting insurance reimbursement for a light box. --Joan Price

Review

"This is the book I recommend to all who struggle beneath the weight of winter. It is highly authoritative yet lively, warm, and quite personal. Dr. Rosenthal is an unsurpassed expert in the field and he lays out exactly what you need to do to feel more like your 'summer self.'"--Michael J. Norden, MD, University of Washington, author of Beyond Prozac

"This is a 'must' read for all who suffer from seasonal affective disorder--and for their parents, spouses, and significant others. Illustrated with a rich mixture of case histories and the latest research results, the book does a masterful job of describing the history, origins, and treatment of SAD. This is painless medicine indeed!"--Dean Hamer, PhD, coauthor of Living With Our Genes; Chief of Gene Structure and Regulation at the National Cancer Institute

"Written to introduce both health professional and the lay public to the topic of seasonal affective dissorder (SAD), this book succeeds in providing the essentials about the diagnosis and treatment of SAD while engaging the reader in literature and thought-provoking discussions of the broader role of seasonality in our culture and our lives. The text is very well written and the case vignettes are illuminating and often touching....The book helps make sense of a puzzling and potentially incapacitating illness and offers explicit hope for a better future."--Michael E. Thase, MD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

"Winter Blues is a fascinating and authoritative account of what science knows about our vital relationship to light. Dr. Rosenthal, an internationally recognized expert in the field of mood disorders, vividly describes the intriguing seasonal pattern in our moods, energies, and behaviors, as well as the recent treatments that have evolved to help mitigate the suffering experienced by the many individuals who have seasonal affective disorder. Winter Blues is an excellent and highly readable book."--Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, author of Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament

"Wonderfully written and full of vital information by an unequaled expert on the subject. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who, like myself, has the winter blues. Read and heed Dr. Rosenthal's advice. It can change your life."--Jean Carper, syndicated columnist and author of Food--Your Miracle Medicine

"An elegant book....An enlightening work....Combines the tradition of doctor as humanist with an exciting new science of the mind."--Judith Rapoport, MD, author of The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
When the dark days of winter approach, do you feel slowed down and have difficulty waking up in the morning? Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews

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4.2 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview of Seasonal Affective Disorder, Oct 22 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Winter Blues, Revised and Updated: Seasonal Affective Disorder: What It Is and How to Overcome It (Paperback)

This book gives a comprehensive overview of Seasonal Affective Disorder, as well as milder versions like the "winter blues" which affect many people, some of whom don't realize it. The book is written primarily for the layperson, either those who think or know they have SAD or those who know someone who does. If you fall into one of those catagories, this book would be worth reading.

The book explains the research behind the discovery of SAD (Dr. Rosenthal was one of the researchers who defined the disorder)and explains the various means of treating the problem. The author also puts SAD into a historical and literary context. After reading it, those affected by SAD will not feel that they are alone in their tribulations. They are part of a large group, and one that can live relatively normal lives with treatment and a little advance planning.

The book also offers information on distinguishing SAD from depression or bipolarity, and points out that SAD can co-occur with other problems.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview of Seasonal Affective Disorder, Oct 22 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Winter Blues, Revised and Updated: Seasonal Affective Disorder: What It Is and How to Overcome It (Paperback)

This book gives a comprehensive overview of Seasonal Affective Disorder, as well as milder versions like the "winter blues" which affect many people, some of whom don't realize it. The book is written primarily for the layperson, either those who think or know they have SAD or those who know someone who does. If you fall into one of those catagories, this book would be worth reading.

The book explains the research behind the discovery of SAD (Dr. Rosenthal was one of the researchers who defined the disorder)and explains the various means of treating the problem. The author also puts SAD into a historical and literary context. After reading it, those affected by SAD will not feel that they are alone in their tribulations. They are part of a large group, and one that can live relatively normal lives with treatment and a little advance planning.

The book also offers information on distinguishing SAD from depression or bipolarity, and points out that SAD can co-occur with other problems.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Worth a read, Nov 28 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Winter Blues, Revised and Updated: Seasonal Affective Disorder: What It Is and How to Overcome It (Paperback)

I found this book particularly useful to me in that I was not all that clear about what seasonal disorder was all about and the author is both convincing and authoritative about the problem. Although I do not experience seasonal disorder, someone very close does and I read it to find out what it was. At first, as I read the book, I wondered if this was not hype but as I continued on, I realized that the symptoms described are quite like the person.

I benefited from reading the book but found the last few sections or chapters not to keep my interest because they tended to wander off into related but non-important areas for me.

However, the book taken as a whole is a very valuable if you need information. So, if you are or know someone who may suffer this illness (and even the author makes it clear that it is a diagnosable illness) then you will gain comfort by taking the time to read it.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A PATIENT'S PERSPECTIVE
This book was interesting to me as someone who has been diagnosed with seasonal affect disorder (SAD). Read more

Published on Jan 22 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars A very interesting, well-written book
"Winter Blues" is a well-crafted book by Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal, the creator of the contemporary concept of seasonal affective disorder and light therapy, one of the... Read more

Published on Dec 8 1998 by Leo Sher, M.D. (lsher@box-l.ni...