It may sound impressive to say that the gloomy greyness that blanketed the city for at least two weeks has given you Seasonal Affective Disorder (Sad), but it is more likely you are just sad.
Dunedin clinical psychologist John Kennedy said the academic jury was still out on whether Sad was a distinct disorder or whether it was just depression by another name.
He pointed out there was a difference between being depressed and having moods affected because daily activities we might enjoy, such as going for a walk, were curtailed because of weather.
People accustomed to such outdoor activity would naturally feel worse in bad weather than people used to staying indoors.
It was important to be able to tell the difference between sadness and true depression.
People could usually trace being sad to an event, such as a death in the family, but when someone was depressed they could not understand why they felt awful because there was no identifiable reason for it.
Depression could present itself in different ways, but one of the things to look out for was physical changes - decreased appetite, insomnia (especially early-morning waking) and decreasing libido.
Such symptoms could also be present in grief or sadness, but were prolonged in depression.
Also, a person's view of themselves changed when entering depression - they became self-critical, filled with regret, remorse and pessimism and a "what's the point?" attitude.
This could lead to withdrawing from previously enjoyed activities and avoiding social contact, which was different from being unable to take part in activities because of weather.
