Hi, I'm Dr. Ellen Hendrickson, and you're listening to episode 9 of the savvy psychologist.

I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

We'll use the best of psychology to help you be happy, relaxed, and most importantly, yourself.

We're in the home stretch of what some have called the worst winter

in US history.

Trudging to dig out your car yet again,

your temper may match the days, short, dark, and icy.

This episode is for everyone stuck in a polar vortex, by request from Dan H of Providence,

Rhode Island.

Now, the winter blaws are pretty common.

Some folks hate the holidays.

Others feel let down once the Christmas tree is out by the curb.

And still others get ground down by month after month of gray skies and gray or slush.

And even Wall Street isn't immune.

Indeed, the price of IPOs has been found to vary with the season.

As we've mentioned on the show before, most disorders are the extreme end of normal experiences.

So Winter Blues is a problem, but a relatively minor one.

You feel blah, you eat more Girl Scout cookies

in the recliner than usual, but you manage to function. By contrast, seasonal effective disorder or S. A. D.

is more serious. More often than not, someone suffering from seasonal depression

feels like a hibernating bear who's been disturbed, grouchy, lethargic, and exhausted.

You may also feel sad, guilty, hopeless, pessimistic, unmotivated, and self-critical.

...