Since 1984, 447 articles have been published using the acronym “SAD” for seasonal affective disorder in the heading of the publication, and since 1992, 59 articles have used “SAD” in the heading of the publication as an acronym for social anxiety disorder, according to MEDLINE. Using the acronym SAD for social anxiety disorder has been used with more frequency in recent scientific publications—interestingly, mostly in connection with newer antidepressants that have been found to be of therapeutic potential for this indication. To avoid possible confusions in research, the acronym “SOAD” was proposed for social anxiety disorder by Kasper and Winkler and “SAnD” by Nutt (D.J. Nutt, MD, PhD, unpublished data, 2004)—seemingly without success since these abbreviations are not seen in the literature. This month, CNS Spectrums focuses on the existing literature on the original acronym for SAD—seasonal affective disorder and its worldwide recognition.

In the early 1980s, Rosenthal and colleagues at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) set out to describe a syndrome called SAD, not to be confused with the other, more recent SAD, social anxiety disorder. The original has been known to physicians since ancient times, dating back to Aretaeus the Cappadocian. However, the NIMH researchers for the first time systematically described the clinical symptomatology, compared it with healthy controls, and differentiated SAD from nonseasonal depression. Their work in tandem with emerging technology led to the discovery of the underlying pathophysiology of SAD and treatment approaches. The most important of these approaches were light therapy and pharmacotherapeutic options.