Seven Resources on Treating Seasonal Affective Disorder with Integrative Medicine

Approaching Depression and Anxiety with Traditional Medicines

Like many other healthcare providers, I’ve noticed a drastic uptick in the number of patients I’m treating with depression and anxiety as either their primary issue or as a main contributor to the other chief complaints they are experiencing. Of course, mental health is a chronic, year-round concern. But external factors such as a shift into the colder and darker seasons and increased pressures from work and school commonly results in an increase in depressive states paired with anxiety. Add in pandemic-related factors, and it’s easy to see why our patients are overwhelmed.

Though depression and anxiety are complex issues with a variety of possible causes, if sadness, grief, and issues with letting go are dominant expressions of the patient’s depression, I will first assess the Lungs and Large Intestines. 2020 and 2021 have brought about some major changes, causing many of the cases of depression that I have seen lately focused on dealing with loss.

In addition, in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the fall season is related to the Lungs and Large Intestines. When the trees drop their leaves and the soil prepares for winter, the principle of “letting go” becomes more dominant in our lives. As anyone who has experienced loss knows, letting go is one of the more difficult things to do. It can feel painful, even physically so, and it can trigger or amplify feelings of anxiety and depression.

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