What is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)? 

"Just a house plant" As an asexual, same!

"painsomnia" : a mood.

I’m so so glad you mentioned that it can be experienced in the warm months too! I don’t think I have SAD but my anxiety is so much worse in the summer, and I find the heat exacerbates stuff (eg sensory overload). The start of the academic year is a positive thing for me (even when it sometimes makes me anxious, it is definitely a good time) and it gives me something to focus on. I adore cold weather and rain and such, whereas I hate heat and the busy sweaty loud awfulness of the summer. I don’t want to make it sound worse than it is for me, but I also don’t want to ignore how much worse I feel in the summer.

Thanks for mentioning SAD in the summer. I feel very, VERY depressed/bored/sad during summer because i feel like i have nothing to do, it's too hot and sensory hell, friends are mostly away and adhd and boredom.... not good. As much as i struggle with school I really need the structure! I feel very trapped and down and when you try to mention seasonal depression people don't even think summer SAD can exist

Are you doing alright Aaron? I haven't seen any new videos from you in a while, I hope you are doing well... 🤔👍🤗

THANK for mentioning summer S.A.D. It's so often overlooked! I get very uncomfortable and sad during heat waves which seems to be every day in the summers we're having now :/ Also yes we should forgive ourselves more, it's not our fault this thing just happens.

when your seasonal depression combines with your chronic depression *insert kronk meme* "its all coming together"

I would love a video about selective mutism! It's so weird to be an autistic person who's hyper-verbal sometimes and nonverbal other times, especially bc mutism seems to kick in right when you need to speak in important moments.

My psychiatrist had me get one of those lights that simulates the sun to help. I call it my sad lamp lmao

I have SAD myself, it's a very sad topic. _Fine, I'll leave._ (Jk jk I cope through humor) But joking aside, the holidays have been harder for me for as long as I can remember. I just... for years I haven't been able to be truly happy when the holidays roll around. Anyways, thanks for talking about this! Love ya, Aaron!

I have SAD during the winter but because I live in the Southern Hemisphere I’m coming into the good nice warmer seasons now and I can feel my SAD waning for the year. It’s interesting what you were saying about SAD being worsened by the correlation of the holiday season with winter, because here the holiday season takes place over summer so there’s not that same correlation. If anything, my SAD makes me have a more positive view of the holidays, because they happen during the time of the year when I’m happiest. Thanks Aaron for the good video!

I miss you and your content sm I hope you’re doing ok with quarantine and I wish you the best of lucky♥️

I didn't know SAD could be in the summer too but that's always been how I've described it! I'm very sensitive to heat and light so during the summer I feel miserably hot and my eyes are basically in constant pain from sunlight (I'm too self-conscious to wear sunglasses all the time). Feeling too hot/sweating is the most common reason I have a meltdown and a major reason I have problems sleeping. I also have a LOT more dysphoria in the summer because I can't just wear a jacket or anything. Plus I have a much harder time breathing in the summer cause the air is much thicker. In the winter, I am MUCH more comfortable with the temperature, it's generally darker so I'm not in as much pain, it's much easier to breather, and I have much less dysphoria. Plus SNOW! so while summer feels suffocating, winter makes me feel so alive and free. The weather has been much colder this last week or so and it makes such a positive impact on my mental health when I go go outside and feel comfortable. I can finally look forward to looking at the weather instead of just feeling constant dread. I thought SAD could only be caused by the lack of sunlight in the winter so this video taught me that I probably DO have SAD and that I'm not alone in this. I've often felt guilty for being so excited for winter because I know so many people have SAD during the winter so what I wanted hurt them. But it's just how I naturally experience the seasons! I'm so glad I watched this video because as soon as I saw the title I was really hoping something like this would come up and it did! So thanks for helping me!

Oh my god thank you so much for talking about summer SAD! My spouse has the summer variant and we didn't know SAD was linked to melatonin! This info has been passed on and hopefully summers will be less miserable in the future for them!

I always get depressed in summer but I think is the isolation

I just wanna say, I signed up for pride counseling and it was super easy! I was matched with a counselor who has tons of experience dealing with my specific issues/concerns. Their pricing is way more reasonable compared to in-person therapy, and they offer discounts to people with low income. I was able to get a huge discount due to having no job but living with my partner who works 2 jobs to support us. They even INCREASED my discount when I asked about it, since I'm in a bit of a financial crisis right now, just because they want people to have a chance to afford it. It was really kind of them to do that for me. They also said they would accept Care Credit! We're not sure yet if it will work because it depends if Care Credit will allow it, but it's 100% gucci on their end. So that's a bonus for folks out there who have trouble paying for it! EDIT: There's also an Android app!!!

AH YES I have been ~waiting~ for a new vid from u bb

Seasonal depression is kicking my ass! Not having any to buy things for the holidays is very depressing.

I really hope you are well, it's been 3 months since this video... 🥺 I will really be relieved to see a new one ! Take care 🥰

Always nice to see you Aaron.

In the summer- is up all day and don't go to bed till 3 - 5 am. In the winter- goes to bed 9 pm - 1 am. And both seasons I nap a lot, lot. Depression is fun.

I'm really glad you talked about the Holidays, and how that can actually be really hard for some people. I feel like everyone thinks of the Holidays as this happy time, but that's not always the case. So thanks for helping us be *aware* of that 😊

You’re so great and respectful and helpful. Thank you. Sometimes I find it hard to be gentle with myself and remind myself that depression is something I HAVE, I’m not a depressing PERSON.

I’ve always (half jokingly) said I must have the opposite of seasonal affective disorder, but I didn’t realize it was an actual thing! when you listed the symptoms for summer S.A.D. I had to roll my eyes at myself, that’s 100% me

me, realizing the reason i feel so awful rn is because of seasonal affective disorder and me feeling super good this morning after a nice long sleep but feeling bad now that it’s night is entirely related to that wow that makes so much more sense

What's interesting about SAD to me is that I was born and raised in Florida, where we don't really get seasons. It still affected me, but not NEARLY as much as it does now that I've moved north and the seasons are much more severe and the days get significantly shorter during the fall/winter months. It's something to consider if you have depression/anxiety and are considering moving. P.S. could you make a video specifically about how you deal with agoraphobia symptoms? For me it's something that compounds with my SAD and makes it difficult to go out and get sunlight and stuff...thanks very much and I love your videos!

Thank you for mentioning night terrors! I’ve tried melatonin before and its led to really unpleasant lucid nightmares and I thought it was just me being silly but it’s nice to know that it’s a legit thing. Awesome video as always!

Just a little word (cause I don't have Twitter or Instagram), I hope you are safe in these troubled times, take care and hug your cat daily (it works!) ❤️

It's mental health awareness day? How did I not know this? I must bake a cake now!

A helpful video as always ☺️

We need a group chat for people struggling with this and / or depression / anxiety to help eachother out especially at this time of year ❤️🥺

Tryptophan is the molecule, your body needs to build Serotonin, which is then converted into Melatonin. I did not well at all with Melatonin, but Tryptophan is a lifesaver. Taken in the afternoon, the body switches on the production of Melatonin for me so I am tired enough around 2100. Also suffer from painsomnia coupled with hospital IV pain memory at 1am kind of PTSD, which added to having had trouble falling asleep since I was little... Yay for multiple health issues that feed off of each other. Not complaining, though. Since having started to transition, despite all the other health issues, life has gotten so much more fun, I can deal with everything else better.

Omgeeeee! I have Christmas lights tooo! 😍 I love this video! I want to try to look into some of these things. No ones has ever cared about my S.A.D. so I’ve got a lot to figure out.

I learned so many things , thank you Aaron 💕💕

Something else to know about melatonin is it can cause headaches. I've heard it called a melatonin hangover. I don't know if that's a legit name or if it's slang, but I've heard it enough after it happened to me to feel like I should add this disclaimer in the comments. Sometimes it's just really worth the head ache to sleep!!

you explained it so eloquently, 10/10!! -- on a totally unrelated note i just got diagnosed with EDS and i was wondering if you could make a video sometime about how EDS affects your day to day functioning?

I have a feeling that your videos are helping a LOT of people. Plus, your voice is super calming! Thank you :)

Thank you for all the research that obviously went into this, I learnt heaps. I think a lot of people suffer from this but don’t know about it, and being conscious of it is incredibly important. 💕 Also, I just wanted to say that I loved the thumbnail for this video. 🌱

I hope you're having a Happy Holiday and Happy New Year, I miss you and your art/pet videos 👍🥰

This was a really comprehensive and thoughtful take. I learned a lot here. I appreciate your trigger warnings and using words like 'folk' as well - I firmly believe that where we don't need to specify gender or sex, we shouldn't, and your channel is always so inclusive and welcoming and supportive. Keep being you, Aaron!

I always get a little bitter around this time of year because I hear a lot of "so-and-so has seasonal depression and they get through it!" in regards to my year-round depression. I wish people could learn to support one without downplaying the other

I start feeling down during the month of December. I think possibly Christmas time growing up was stressful in a dysfunctional family when I was a kid and people tend to be fake (more than usual) during this time. Once January 1st rolls around I feel better because it's a time to start anew.

I've been out of the loop for a couple years but Im so happy that you're still making content 💛 ILYSM

I'm a bit late for Mental Health Awareness Day, but have you ever tried AMDR with your therapists? It's something new mine just got trained in up here in northern Minnesota, and so far, it has worked well for me. Look it up if you feel like it, if not, that's fine too. That's what I'm trying right now and I'm very happy with how it's going so far :) Mental Health Awareness Day needs to be more advertised IMO. Great video Aaron! I love how you present the issue at hand, and how well you describe why, how and when things can start up and start to sneak into our brains. I have Christmas/fairy lights all over my apartment, they make me happy :) I also have a daylight light bulb in all of my lamps during the day, and turn them off at the same time every night, and turn them on once I wake up during the day. I LOATHE Melatonin, it actually keeps me up, I have no clue why! So far, I just have accepted that not only am I a night owl, I only see sunshine maybe once a week here in northern Minnesota, most days it's cloudy, so that contributes to my SAD. But if I stay in next to my daylight lamps, it does help more than trying to go outside in cloudy/rainy/snowy weather :)

Miss you! Hope you're doing okay. 💟

I really miss your videos! I hope you're doing well Aaron 😊

aaron!! thank you for this video❤️💗 literally ur voice is so soothing and calming and the music in tge background went perfectly with ur voice. great video, thanks for always teaching/talking about this kind of stuff. sending lots of love😚💙

Came from snap to support man!!!

I actually occasionally feel depressed due to my Type 1 Diabetes, my Asperger's Syndrome, or even my Cyclothymia or mild form of Bipolar Disorder. I draw, sketch, paint, or even cuddle with my pets.

I'm really happy you decided to talk about this! I'm from Florida.. the literal sunshine state and I moved to Enland to go to Univeristy. You'd be lucky to see the sun just once a month here and S.A.D. really hits me hard. I also didn't even realise that the holidays and other things play into it so it's making a lot more sense nowww!

I have mixed depression and general anxiety, But It’s often triggered by seasons. I’m usually down from winter to spring. It’s probably because i dont like christmas, and have lost loved ones in november and febuary. I’ve already started feeling that winter’s coming (*insert GOT joke*) It’s fun. Not really. But i understand and know how my brain works so I dont get thrown off guard when it starts to bring me down. Edit: i’ve also started taking extra vitamin-d in hopes of that helping. I also have a bunch of plants so i’m forced to open my blinds once i wake up, which helps me alot. The Windows in my room are massive, and the walls are white so i’m basically BLASTED with light when the sun’s out

I definitely get affected by SAD but being in the Southern Hemisphere it isn’t (for me personally) connected to the holiday season, as our holiday season is in summer. I definitely get it in the colder darker months

your voice is so soothing, it would be good for asmr

Aaron I self administered my first T shot today! 😄 Also you are super entertaining and rad as always!

You videos always help me and make me laugh. Your so funny and real

Is v good video bb, thank 4 content 💖 Also I want u to kno that I had a dream earlier where you handed Lamb 2 me and I held him like baby and I'm still emotional about it

You sir are a very adorable plant 🌱

I miss you please come back

I've suspected before that I could have S.A.D but the symptoms you listed confirmed it 💀💀💀 Perfect match 😶

I had the weirdest dream last night that you had your VERY OWN podcast and there was a massive grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony and when I woke up I was sad cause tbh I kinda miss hearing you voice your opinion on things and I hope ur okay 💟💜💟 my brain is subconsciously thinking of u

Happy Valentine's day Aaron! 💖🌈✌👍💪

love you a lot 💜

Hi Aaron! I hope all is well for you right now! I absolutely LOVE all the informative videos on mental health! Are you familiar with Pathalogical Grooming? I would love to hear what you have to say about it and its links to Anxiety and OCD! Thanks so much for your amazing videos throughout the years! Sending love!

Aaron! You have to do the other half of your gaslighting video! I’m using it to send to my mom (she’s in an abusive relationship and has been for 8 years, she brought me into it and I’m not dealing with be abused anymore. Your video showed her a lot!)

I'm still banned from the server when I didn't do anything wrong! They thought I was being transphobic and/or homophobic or something, but they just turned it against me! Please help! I didn't mean anything wrong Aaron! And you specifically said it's a place to vent, but anytime I had vented, they said to go see a gender therapist... like I am not really sure if that's the best thing right now tbh and they are so hyper-critical of every little thing that I said that I couldn't just stand it. How do I get back on the server?

Is the counselling just for US? I'm in the UK x

Social media must not help with any of this

Saw you on snap and love it. You are really handsome btw!

Do Pride Counselling use different languages than English?

Is it possible to have SAD for both Winter and Summer?

I hope you're doing okay with everything going on! Sorry if this seems out of nowhere, you haven't posted anything to youtube in a bit! So yeah, take care! :-)

You should react to your old photos/videos.

Its kickin in :( haha