Seasonal affective disorder: Lighting research and Environmental psychology

Abstract

This review uses Seasonal Affective Disorder, a depression with a seasonal pattern, to illustrate why engineers, architects, and designers need to look beyond their disciplines and make use of the research output of environmental psychology. Studies of winter SAD in low latitude regions and SAD during summer have shown the need to move away from considering lighting in isolation towards a more holistic view of the environment including personal factors, as is done in environmental psychology.