If you’re among the millions of people who suffer from the winter blues, you don’t have to wait until spring to feel better: Wellbutrin XL, a prescription antidepressant, was recently approved by the FDA as the first drug to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). This emotional disorder occurs during the winter months and causes depressionlike symptoms such as moodiness, low energy, increased appetite, and a loss of interest in sex.

    Although we’re not sure exactly what causes SAD, we think it may be a biochemical imbalance in the brain triggered by decreased sunlight,” says Douglas George Jacobs, M.D., an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. If you experience more than one of the above symptoms for two consecutive weeks, see a mental health professional who can diagnose SAD. He may prescribe Wellbutrin XL or another antidepressant (although Wellbutrin XL is the only drug officially approved for treating SAD, others are often prescribed off-label), and/or psychotherapy or phototherapy, which involves sitting under a special fluorescent lamp for a few hours each day during winter. But in mild cases, symptoms can often be relieved simply by increasing your exposure to sunlight. Try incorporating long walks into your daily routine or eating meals near a window.

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