Seasonal affective disorder--a British sample. Symptomatology in relation to mode of referral and diagnostic subtype.

Fifty-one patients were recruited into a descriptive study of the putative syndrome of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), diagnosed according to strict criteria. Some differences were found between this sample and those previously reported but there were many more similarities. Comparisons were made between self-referrals and psychiatrists' referrals, between patients who had previously been treated by psychiatrists and those who had never been treated, and between those who became depressed on follow-up through the winter of 1985/1986 and those who remained well. The syndrome of SAD was broadly supported.