Why ‘Summertime Sadness’ Isn’t Just a Song

By windoverwaterUncategorized

Atypical Summer Depression, Emotional Mismatch, and Mental Health Support

Summer SAD? What is that?

While many people associate summer with fun, freedom, and rejuvenation, not everyone experiences the warmer months that way. For some, summer brings an increase in agitation, restlessness, disrupted sleep, and emotional disconnection. You might find yourself feeling out of sync with the season- irritable in the heat, anxious around social expectations, or simply unable to access the sense of joy that others seem to display so effortlessly.

Clients often describe feeling emotionally numb, overstimulated by light and noise, or triggered by unstructured time. Some report grief resurfacing more sharply during summer activities like family vacations or holidays that once held different meaning. Others feel pressure to “enjoy” summer but instead experience guilt, isolation, or shame because they can’t. For others, it is a body image issue related to not only society’s judgments, but our own. 

If this resonates, it’s important to know: this is a recognized mental health pattern, not a personal failure.

Why It Happens

While Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is more commonly associated with winter, a summer-pattern version exists as well. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, roughly 10% of individuals with SAD experience symptoms in the summer months. Unlike its winter counterpart, summer-pattern SAD often presents with:

  • Insomnia
  • Anxiety or agitation
  • Low appetite
  • Irritability or restlessness
  • Increased sensitivity to light, noise, or heat

These symptoms are more than discomfort. They can disrupt daily life, affect relationships, and impact work or academic performance. Several factors contribute to this shift, including:

  • Changes in routine due to school breaks, vacation, or childcare gaps
  • Increased body image distress, especially amid diet and wellness culture pressures
  • Grief anniversaries or trauma reminders tied to seasonal events
  • Physiological changes in sleep patterns caused by longer daylight hours
  • Heat intolerance, chronic health conditions, or hormonal shifts such as perimenopause
  • Social comparison and performance pressure-the belief that everyone else is happier or thriving

These layers of stress, grief, or trauma often emerge more clearly when our usual routines pause. The quiet space summer creates can make unprocessed pain harder to ignore.

What Helps

While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, a few strategies can support mental health during the summer months:

1. Acknowledge What You’re Feeling

Recognizing and naming your emotional state-whether it’s exhaustion, grief, resentment, or loneliness-can reduce shame and restore agency. Journaling, talking with a trusted person, or simply acknowledging “I’m not okay right now” can be grounding steps.

2. Respect Your Nervous System

Your body doesn’t run on sunlight; it runs on safety. A high-functioning survival mode during the rest of the year may mask emotional depletion that only becomes visible when external demands slow down. If you feel like collapsing once you finally get time off, that’s a valid physiological response, not weakness.

3. Adjust Expectations, Not Just Schedules

Instead of pushing through burnout or social pressure, ask what “five percent less” would look like. Fewer obligations. Less screen time. A gentler morning. Small changes in pace can make a meaningful difference.

4. Engage the Body to Calm the Mind

When emotions feel overwhelming, try sensory tools to interrupt spirals. Cold water on your face or wrists, a short barefoot walk on grass, or even standing still and taking ten slow breaths can help the body feel present and supported.

5. Connect with a Supportive Listener

Talking to someone trained in holding emotional complexity-like a therapist-can help make sense of the mismatch between how you feel and what the world expects. Therapy offers a space where no emotion is “too much,” and no season has to be performed.

Shame and Emotional Dissonance

One of the most difficult dynamics we see in therapy during summer is not just depression or anxiety- but the shame that comes with them. Shame that you’re not “doing summer right.” Shame that you’re not grateful enough. Shame that you’re not recovering fast enough or embodying the social version of healing.

These beliefs often stem from unrealistic expectations embedded in productivity culture, body image norms, and trauma histories. When people feel they have to deserve rest or happiness, they may internalize emotional struggle as proof that they’ve failed.

This is not the truth. It’s the effect of chronic over-functioning, perfectionism, or unresolved pain. Summer doesn’t erase those struggles; it sometimes amplifies them.

Therapy can help you learn to listen to your internal cues, release shame-based beliefs, and develop practices that actually meet your needs in all seasons.

Grief Has No Calendar

Summer can be particularly challenging for those living with grief. The brightness and busyness of the season can clash painfully with the internal reality of loss. Whether it’s the absence of a loved one at a vacation spot, a birthday that’s no longer celebrated, or simply the sharpness of a world that keeps moving, grief can feel even more isolating in a season that rewards cheerfulness.

We want to emphasize: grief is not a problem to solve. It’s a natural response to loss, and it can show up in surprising ways, especially when we’re expected to “be okay.”

There’s no need to rush this process. But you don’t have to go through it alone.

What to Watch For

If you’re experiencing the following symptoms for more than two weeks, it may be time to reach out:

  • Persistent sadness, emptiness, or anxiety
  • Irritability or feelings of agitation without clear cause
  • Difficulty sleeping or waking too early
  • Low energy, even after rest
  • Loss of interest in enjoyable activities
  • Withdrawal from others
  • Increased negative self-talk or shame
  • Changes in appetite or body image distress
  • Difficulty concentrating

Summer mental health struggles are real and treatable. The sooner you get support, the easier it is to interrupt the cycle of shame, burnout, or disconnection before it deepens.

If This Sounds Familiar, You’re Not Alone. Let’s Talk.

At Wind Over Water Counseling & Consulting, we specialize in helping clients navigate burnout, anxiety, grief, body image distress, and seasonal emotional shifts. Therapy offers a nonjudgmental space to understand your needs, reconnect with your emotional landscape, and feel less alone in the process.

If you’re in Virginia, Maryland, or North Carolina and need support, reach out today. Therapy doesn’t have to be a last resort. It can be the space where your healing begins.

Schedule a session today →

Affirmations to Keep in Mind

  • I can rest without guilt.
  • My emotions are valid, even when they don’t match the season.
  • I am allowed to feel sadness in the sunlight.
  • My worth is not measured by my productivity or positivity.

Let this be your reminder: summer can be complicated – and so can healing.

Resources for Further Support