Abstract
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a well-accepted subtype of affective disorder. Its current criteria require that the patterns of mood changes correspond to seasons, not to ambient light, although the research makes it clear that it is the decreased light in the winter that results in the depressive symptoms. The authors present a case in which a patient with a demonstrated pattern of mild depression in the winter developed a severe depression when placed in a new job situation requiring her to work in virtually total darkness for 12-hour shifts. She was unable to work under these conditions and requested a change back to more normal lighting conditions. When this was refused, she was ultimately fired, despite an exemplary 25-year work record. The case is presented to illustrate that when diagnostic criteria are taken too literally, they may lead to unanticipated results in the legal arena.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.