Winter Depression and Low Dose Melatonin

Over the Counter Treatment for Seasonal Affective Disorder

The short story: Low daily doses of liquid melatonin taken every day for 4 weeks once SAD has set in, can lift the mood. A low dose of melatonin - .3 mg - can be obtained by using small amounts of liquid melatonin. The time of day it is taken is important. For most people it is in the afternoon. For some (30%) it should be taken in the morning. (Per research (2) cited below.)

Melatonin is available over the counter, but one should consult a doctor regarding usage.

Long Story:

A running theory of the cause of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) or winter depression, is that a person's circadian rhythms are out of sync. NIHM defines this: "A person's rhythms are synchronized when the interval between the time the pineal gland begins secreting melatonin and the middle of sleep is about 6 hours. (1)" There are a number of therapies aimed at correcting the problem including lights, exercise, anti-depressants and melatonin. (See the Wikipedia entry.)

The synchronization can be off in two ways: - a longer-than or a shorter-than 6 hour interval. A study by Lewy, et al (2), showed that subjects who took low dosages of melatonin every day for 4 weeks found an improvement in mood. The dosage was as follows: for those who's interval is less than 6 hours, .3 mg in the afternoon. For those with a longer than 6 hour interval, .3 mg in the morning. If you have to guess which you are, the odds from the study favor the short interval (71% to 29%). The study gave 2 small doses adding up to .3 mg in 2 hours.

Melatonin is available over the counter, but generally in high dose formulations. The study used capsule formulation. There are liquid forms of melatonin available in some health food stores. (Again, I found Natrol 1 mg, and adjusted the amount.)

Both articles cited are available on line.

References
1. April 2006 article from the National Institute of Mental Health, "Properly Timed Light, Melatonin Lift Winter Depression by Syncing Rhythms".

2. Lewy AJ, Lefler BJ, Emens JS, Bauer VK. The circadian basis of winter depression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Apr 28.

Emotion as a sensory need

When I step back and look at emotions from a cognitive rather than anatomical viewpoint, it appears to me that emotions act like a sense, and that we can discuss them in the same way we discuss other senses. That is, emotions can be well-regulated or poorly regulated and that a person can have emotional sensory seeking, emotional sensory aversion, low or high emotional registration and emotional modulation-driven behaviors -- just the same as they can for the anatomical senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing, seeing, movement and body sense (proprioception).

I see a boy who has pretty typical sensory processing skills with one exception. He is a seeker of sensory input. Not any special kind of input, just all sensory input. He is easily excited and has emotional outbursts. He is eight and mostly non-verbal, but he can say, "I want" and put a name top all of the things that he wants. And he wants a lot, and wants it now.

On the Sensory Profile, he scores as "definitely different" from peers in modualtion: social/emotional and sensory seeking. Were you to meet him, you would think of him as emotionally intense. We all know people that we consider to be drama queens and drama kings. In his own way, he is probably one.

I wonder what his need is. Is his emotion-seeking due to to low emotional registration? (I am suggesting a brain-level sensory need similar to tactile seeking.) Or does his brain for some other reason (perhaps chemical), have a greater need than most -- here I am thinking of our pleasure-seeking drives? (Or does chemical need and brain-level sensory need mean the same thing in the emotional arena?) Is he not seeking emotion but just demonstrating what appears to be emotional seeking behaviors as a by-product of poor modulation of emotion?

Musical Emotions

I just read about a number of dual sensory experiences in the book, Musicophilia, by Oliver Sacks. His examples include people who hear colors. He can add this one to the list: a woman who feels in musical notes.

My good friend, Amanda, called me this morning in a state of excitement. Amanda has minor bouts of mania and minor bouts of depression. Another friend of hers once called her the most intense person she ever know. That was before my time with Amanda. She's pretty mellow these days. Although, I guess she has her moments.

And today was evidently one of them. It's been a rough November for her. External events had brought up some emotions, and combined with the dreary Michigan November she succombed to a bit of depression. As a friend, I was keeping a very careful eye on her.

During her call she said, "Last night I listened to some sublime choral music on my stereo. It filled my whole body with feeling. Finally, I couldn't handle any more and turned it off. This morning when I was in the shower, I felt a little funny. Instead of feeling a single emotion or feeling, I had...", -- and here she paused trying to find the words -- "...a whole harmonic range of emotions, arranged just like notes stacked one on top of the other". Then she explained that it was just like the rich choral music she had been listening to.

I got her to slow down long enough to explain it.

She told me that she had seen a visual image (in her inner eye) of about 12 emotions. The feeling of each emotion was represented by a musical note on a staff. The 12 feelings or notes were stacked in a single beat on the staff. She felt the emotions within herself like a rich chord of music -- all at once. Pretty bizarre and very beautiful.

"How did it feel?", I asked, afraid of the answer.
"Just fine.", she said. "Amazing and fine."
"What emotions were there?"
"The deeper notes were fear, sexual feelings, longing, up through greed, compassion, a need to express myself, and on and on. The highest note was joy."
"How do you feel now?"
"Very connected and in harmony with myself. Everything is just perfect."

I talked to her later. It was a momentary experience. It came with a high and then a low, but she did fine. That brain of ours is filled with all kinds of mysteries!