NEARLY ONE IN four cases of depression may fall into this category. A study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry identified “circadian depression,” and people with it have an internal 24-hour clock that’s out of sync with their external environment. We’re not talking about jet lag.
This is when your body’s internal timing network just can’t regulate your body’s systems. It's important to get this out of the way upfront: Circadian depression isn't in the DSM-5—the “psychiatry bible” mental health professionals use to make diagnoses. In other words, it's not an official condition yet.
But it’s important to know about. We had mental health experts break it down. CIRCADIAN DEPRESSION IS a subtype of depression caused by circadian disruption, which is when your body’s circadian rhythm doesn't align with your external environment.
People with circadian depression have disrupted sleep-wake cycles, lower levels of daytime activity, low energy, and weight gain during depression episodes, according to the study. People who were classified in the study as having circadian depression were more likely to have severe symptoms of depression, including: People with circadian depression also seem to be more likely than those with other forms of depression to have other conditions like ADHD, anxiety, bipolar disorder, obesity, or insulin resistance. THE STUDY’S RESEARCHERS analyzed clinical and genetic data from more than 10,000 Australians with depression.
To determine whether people had the proposed subtype, circadian depression, rather than general depression, they looked at factors like a person's social jetlag (the mismatch between their internal clock and external schedule), whether they were night owls, how tired they felt in the morning, and whether they experienced excessive daytime sleepiness. They also looked at whether people had poor responses to antidepressant treatment, and people with severe symptoms that were a mix of bipolar disorder, depression, and somatic disorders. About 23 percent of participants fell into the category of circadian depression.
This is more than a label. It’s important to recognize because, as the researchers pointed out, people with circadian depression tend to be less responsive to traditional antidepressant medications. That means treatment tailored to their subtype is especially important.
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