Seasonal Depression Symptoms: What They Look Like, Even in Sunny LA

You’ve been telling yourself it’s just a rough patch. The days feel heavier, sleep isn’t landing right, and something about your mood shifts with the calendar in a way you can’t quite name. There is no need to beat yourself up about this. It might mean a part of you is responding to the changing of the season.

Here in Los Angeles, we’re supposed to be immune to this. The sun is out, the palm trees are up, and everyone assumes you can’t get the winter blues in a place that barely has winter. But seasonal depression symptoms show up here too, sometimes in a form you wouldn’t expect.

Let’s walk through what they actually look like, so you can potentially make more sense of your experience.

What to Know About Seasonal Affective Disorder

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression tied to the changing seasons. Its symptoms arrive and fade at roughly the same time each year. It isn’t a personality issue, and it isn’t a sign of weakness. The American Psychiatric Association classifies SAD as major depressive disorder with a seasonal pattern.

It’s also more common than a lot of people realize. The American Psychiatric Association reports that about 5% of adults in the U.S. experience SAD, and it typically lasts about 40% of the year. That’s a meaningful stretch of your life to spend feeling so heavy, and it deserves the same care you’d normally give to your mental health.

Here’s the part that gets buried: SAD isn’t only a cold-climate, snow-and-short-days thing. The National Institute of Mental Health notes that while most people experience symptoms in late fall or early winter, others experience depressive symptoms during the spring and summer months, known as summer-pattern SAD.

I bring this up first for a reason. If you live somewhere assumed to be “always sunny,” you may have quietly decided your mood shifts couldn’t possibly be seasonal. That assumption can leave you dismissing something that deserves your attention. Where you live doesn’t make your experience less valid.

Signs and Symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder: Winter-Pattern vs. Summer-Pattern

The symptoms of seasonal affective disorder show up in two directions, and both are legitimate. NIMH describes SAD as a type of depression characterized by a recurrent seasonal pattern, with symptoms lasting about four to five months per year. The DSM-5 recognizes this through a “seasonal pattern” specifier, meaning a clinician confirms a depressive episode first, then notes that it follows the seasons.

The two patterns can look almost like mirror images of each other. Here’s a side-by-side comparison to help you locate yourself.

Area	Winter-pattern SAD	Summer-pattern SAD	General depression
Mood	Persistent low mood, “hibernating” feeling	Agitation, restlessness, heightened anxiety	Sadness or emptiness most of the day
Sleep	Oversleeping (hypersomnia)	Trouble sleeping (insomnia)	Disrupted sleep in either direction
Appetite	Overeating, carbohydrate cravings	Poor appetite	Changes in appetite or weight
Energy	Low energy, sluggishness	Restlessness, feeling keyed up	Fatigue, loss of energy
Other	Weight gain, social withdrawal	Weight loss, heat sensitivity	Trouble concentrating, loss of interest

Winter-Pattern Symptoms

This is the pattern most people picture. As daylight shrinks in the fall and winter, you may notice:

• Oversleeping, or hypersomnia

• Low energy that sleep doesn’t fix

• Overeating, especially craving carbohydrates

• Weight gain

• Social withdrawal, that pull to “hibernate”

• Persistent low or depressed mood most of the day

• Losing interest in things you used to enjoy

• Trouble concentrating

• Feeling hopeless or worthless

• Frequent thoughts of death or suicide

NIMH lists oversleeping, overeating with carbohydrate cravings, weight gain, and social withdrawal as the symptoms specific to winter-pattern SAD, layered on top of the broader symptoms of depression.

If those low-mood symptoms feel familiar year-round instead of just seasonally, it might be worth learning more about therapy for depression and how it can help you find your footing again.

Summer-Pattern Symptoms

This one gets skipped almost everywhere, and that silence can be harmful. If your low season is the warm one, don’t assume you’re imagining it. Summer-pattern symptoms often include:

• Trouble sleeping, or insomnia

• Poor appetite, often with weight loss

• Restlessness and agitation

• Heightened anxiety

• Irritability, and in some cases episodes of violent or aggressive behavior

NIMH lists insomnia, poor appetite with weight loss, restlessness and agitation, and anxiety among the symptoms specific to summer-pattern SAD.

This pattern is real, less discussed, and directly relevant to a place like LA, where long, hot, bright days stretch on for months. If you’ve never fit the “winter depression” story, that doesn’t mean nothing is happening. It could mean you’re on the less common side of the same coin.

Causes of SAD and Why Seasonal Patterns Happen

Once we stop asking “What’s wrong with me?” and start asking “What’s my body responding to?”, the picture gets clearer. For winter-pattern SAD, the leading explanation is light. NIMH explains that in people with SAD, changes in serotonin and melatonin (chemicals that help regulate mood and sleep) disrupt the body’s usual daily rhythms tied to the seasonal day-night cycle. Less sunlight, a shifted circadian rhythm, and altered brain chemistry can add up to a real depressive dip.

Summer-pattern causes are less understood. Researchers point toward the opposite mechanism: longer daylight, heat, and disrupted routines. NIMH notes that most research to date has focused on winter-pattern SAD because it’s more common and easier to study.

A few things can raise your risk. A family history of SAD or other depression, having major depression or bipolar disorder, and living far from the equator are factors that may increase risk. Latitude matters, but “lower risk” isn’t “no risk.” Sunny climates don’t hand out immunity, and neither the winter nor summer version checks your zip code first.

Can seasonal depression be prevented?

There’s no proven way yet. NIMH notes that few studies have looked at prevention. If you’ve had SAD before, starting support before your usual season begins (fall for winter-pattern, spring for summer-pattern) may help reduce symptoms. Talk it through with your provider.

Do I Have Seasonal Depression? A Self-Check

The prompts below are a reflection tool, not a test to pass or fail. Sometimes we just need some language to describe our experience and a place to start.

In the past two weeks, and around the same season in past years, have you noticed any of these?

• Your mood reliably shifts as one particular season arrives

• You’re sleeping much more or much less than usual

• Your appetite has changed, with more cravings or much less eating

• Your energy has dropped, or you feel restless and keyed up

• You’re pulling away from people you’d normally want to see

• Things you used to enjoy feel flat

• These changes are making work, relationships, or daily life harder

Please read this part. This checklist isn’t a diagnosis and can’t replace a conversation with a health care provider or mental health professional. It’s a way to notice patterns and decide whether they’re worth bringing to someone. It makes sense to reach out when symptoms have lasted more than two weeks, when they’re interfering with your daily functioning, or when they keep returning each year.

And if you’re having thoughts of harming yourself, please don’t wait. You can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, any time, for free, confidential support. It’s best to get help as soon as possible rather than wait.

Winter Blues vs. SAD vs. Holiday Blues

These three get lumped together, and untangling them can be a helpful.

The winter blues is a common, milder dip. SAD, by contrast, involves symptoms severe enough to make it difficult to function in social, work, and home environments. The difference is largely about duration, severity, and how much your ability to function takes a hit.

The holiday blues are something else again. NIMH points out that the depression associated with SAD is related to changes in daylight hours, not the calendar, so stresses tied to the holidays or predictable seasonal changes in work, school, or family visits are not the same as SAD.

This is a time-boxed experience tied to specific stressors (family tension, financial strain, grief that gets louder in December) rather than a shift in the light itself. It can overlap with SAD, but it isn’t the same mechanism, and naming which one you’re carrying can help you respond to it more gently. 

Holiday Stress for LGBTQIA+ Folks

If you’re queer or trans, the holidays can carry a weight the standard articles never mention. Maybe you’re bracing for a family gathering where you have to shrink yourself, or grieving a family that hasn’t shown up for who you are. Maybe you’re navigating chosen family logistics because the people who love you best aren’t the ones you’re related to.

That layered stress is real, and it’s distinct from a light-pattern mood shift. Minority stress (the ongoing strain of moving through a world that isn’t always safe for you) doesn’t pause for the season. When it stacks on top of a seasonal dip, the exhaustion can feel bottomless. I want you to know that what you’re carrying makes sense, and it deserves care that actually sees you.

Seasonal Depression Tips: Small Steps That Can Help You Fight Seasonal Depression

These aren’t a cure, and I won’t promise they’ll lift everything. Think of them as small, low-pressure ways to support yourself; things that might help.

• Keep a loose routine. Steady wake times, meals, and movement give your body an anchor when the season is pulling at your rhythm.

• Get outside early. A little morning outdoor light, even a short walk, can gently support your internal clock, a low-cost cousin of light therapy without turning your life into a routine to manage.

• Stay connected to your people. Withdrawal feeds the dip. A single text to a chosen-family member counts.

• Track your mood. Noticing when your low season starts each year turns a vague dread into something you can plan around.

• Talk to a health care provider before self-treating. If you’re wondering about vitamin D, a light box, or an antidepressant, that’s a great conversation to have with a doctor before heading to the supplement aisle.

Get Ahead of Your Low Season: Book a Free Consultation

If you’ve read this far and recognized yourself, that’s worth exploring. You don’t have to keep guessing whether what you feel is valid, and you don’t have to carry a seasonal pattern on your own year after year.

I offer affirming, LGBTQIA+-centered therapy for depression in Los Angeles, in person in Burbank and by telehealth across California. If you’d like to talk about it, I offer a free 15-minute consultation. 

Whatever season this is for you, you deserve to feel like yourself in it. Get in touch!