A follow up study of seasonality in affective disorders: A preliminary study

Researchers have evinced interest in the effect of seasonality on certain behavioural and emotional disorders, the most prominent being Affective Disorders.

To assess the pattern of seasonality and the clinical course in cases of affective disorder in a tertiary care psychiatric centre in North India.

Thirteen patients diagnosed as cases of affective disorder as per ICD- 10 DCR (F30-39) were re-assessed using seasonal pattern assessment questionnaire (SPAQ) after a period of 5-7 years.

Majority of the patients (53.8%) were males. Recurrent depressive disorder current episode moderate with/without somatic syndrome was the commonest current diagnosis as per ICD-10 DCR. Mean global seasonality score was 3.46 (S.D, 6.55; range 1-24) as assessed by SPAQ. Most of the patients did not report any variation in mood, behaviour, sleep pattern and weight fluctuations.

It has been demonstrated that manifestation of an affective disorder is not necessarily associated with high seasonality change.