Feeling down or perhaps even depressed at this time of year? You aren’t alone. Seasonal Affective Disorder affects many people at this time of year and online therapy can provide you with the tools to make it through the dark winter months.
Montana is a spectacular place to live and visit. It’s high rugged rocky mountains, it’s vast and open plains. The Big Sky Country does not disappoint and lives up to its name. I consider myself lucky to have been born and raised in such an amazing place. However, with rugged beauty, comes some tough times, especially during the winter months.
Montana had the highest suicide rate in 2024, followed closely by Alaska (CDC, 2024). Even in our sparsely populated communities, where close and supportive relationships are common, the prevalence of suicide means that many people are likely to know someone who has died by suicide. Or maybe you have considered suicide yourself? If so, help is available 27/7. Please contact the Montana suicide hotline by either calling or texting 988.
So, what does this mean and where am I going with this? It’s sad, it’s tragic, and it’s also real. As incredible as Montana can be, some aspects of this state make for some particularly challenging experiences, especially our winters.
Winter in Montana be long, cold, and harsh, with minimal sun and a lack of daylight hours. Ever heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder? Referred to as SAD?
This disorder affects as much as 5% of the population, but rates are higher in latitudes with fewer daylight hours in the winter. For example, only about 1.4% of Floridians suffer from SAD while as many as 10% of Alaskans, and Montanans are somewhere in the middle. This means that Montanans often can benefit from mental health counseling during these difficult dark months.
And by the way, you can be experiencing a few or several of SAD symptoms, and not have SAD or even have a disorder at all. Winter is hard, and it’s normal to feel the struggle. Regardless of any kind of mental health label, some or many of the following points may relate to you; if that’s the case – great, we are here to help!
Common SAD Symptoms
As a holistic trauma therapist, I have witnessed firsthand that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) manifests differently in each individual; however, these are some of the most commonly observed symptoms.
- Lack of Energy, Motivation & Joy
SAD symptoms or depressive episode symptoms can look like a pervasive lack of energy or motivation to do things that used to motivate you. You also might feel a lack of joy in things that used to bring you joy as well as feelings of apathy or not caring about things you used to care about.
- Sleep-Related Issues
Changes in sleep patterns such as sleeping excessively and always feeling tired, or sleeplessness are common.
- Diet-Related Changes
It’s also common to experience changes in appetite such as eating more even when not hungry or eating less than you need to nourish yourself.
- Emotional Symptoms
You may experience feelings of increased guilt, irritability, or feelings of worthlessness and loneliness. It’s common to feel heavy and generally sad like you’re underwater or feeling dissociated from interactions in which you used to feel engaged.
Why SAD Is Prevalent In Montana
Folks in Montana are especially susceptible to SAD because it can be hard to engage in the same coping skills that help decrease depression symptoms, such as regular exercise, regular exposure to warm sunny daylight, long hours of daylight, ease of meeting our needs like driving, grocery shopping, walking to and from shops, barns or garages.
In our Montana winter, all of these things are harder to do. We have sub-zero temperatures, we have high winds, we have ice and snow. Of course, we love our snow sports and being active in the winter is an amazing experience!
However, the reality is that heading out for a warm trail hike in tennis shoes and shorts with some bear spray is easier and more accessible than bundling up, packing up skiis, making hot cocoa and hitting the slopes. We simply have limited access to doing the things that give our brains the dopamine hit that staves off the depressive symptoms.
Additionally, we live far apart from each other, and we have so many rural areas. This means while we have privacy and open space, we also can feel isolated and alone. In times when company, belonging and connection are needed the most, it is hard to access.
We also have short daylight hours. Daylight impacts our circadian rhythms and other mood-balancing hormones. When we have shorter days, we are under artificial light more often, extending our productive hours from early morning to late evening with overhead lights.
This impacts our neurochemistry and reduces the secretion of those “feel-good” hormones such as serotonin and dopamine, in addition to increasing our stress hormones like cortisol. It can impact our quality of sleep and lead to mood changes like irritability, sadness and feelings of helplessness.
And last but not least, mental health is often associated with weakness. Surviving in Montana means you have to be tough, physically and mentally. While throughout the country, mental health is becoming more talked about and normalized as a part of our overall health, there are still places where there remains a negative stigma about needing emotional support or having mental health “issues.”
This is one of the greatest tragedies of all because it prevents people who need compassionate support and counseling services from accessing them. Our cultural narrative wants you to believe that being healthy means not struggling with things like depression, even if seasonally, or frustration, or loneliness. This is simply wrong.
Being human is to experience those shifts in our emotional status, it indicates we are part of the beautiful and natural connection to nature’s imperfections and cycles. Feeling depressed is hard, lonely and isolating. Talk therapy and other modalities can be hugely beneficial.
But, It’s also ok, and doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with you or that you are weak, broken or deficient. Help is available, and, with online therapy in Montana, it’s easy to access.
With our virtual therapy options, you can connect to a trained professional who can support your process of feeling better without having to drive over icy roads in windy winter storm conditions. If you need to talk with a mental health professional, online therapy platforms can be one of the best options to consider, especially in remote areas.
Be a part of the solution and give yourself or those you know encouragement and permission to find a therapist and access mental health services while we enter this winter season. Family stress from the holidays, work stress from ending a fiscal year, financial stress with our current economy, it all adds up and wellness counseling is readily available online.
At Wildroots Collective, we offer easily accessible holistic virtual therapy that can help with SAD or any mental health issues you may be facing, and we encourage you to get help if you need it. Montana is a beautiful place, but with that beauty comes some extra challenges. You don’t have to weather the storms alone, get help, we are here.
