You may have what's called seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.
I designed primarily to protect us from what is so quaintly called 'civil disorder.'
Depression that lasts a long time is called major depressive disorder.
When that happens, as in Bruce's case, it is called bipolar type 2 disorder.
Perhaps 2 percent of the population suffers from what psychiatrists call seasonal affective disorder - or winter blues.
In the 1970's, lithium became a treatment for manic depression, now called bipolar disorder.
When people are very sad, and for a long time, the person could have a serious mental illness called depression or Bipolar disorder.
For older children, a more typical cause of school avoidance syndrome is what psychiatrists call "overanxious disorder."
In the 20th century, the term was largely replaced by that of depression, which is also called major depressive disorder.
Up to about 8% of women experience severe impairment (called premenstrual dysphoric disorder).