Winter Blues: Seasonal Depression & Mental Health Challenges
Graphic by Angie Li
Editor’s Note: Due to the sensitive nature of mental health support programs, some interviewees have requested to remain anonymous.
As the spring semester begins in Cambridge, students are navigating seasonal and academic stressors that can affect mental health. Seasonal Affective Disorder, commonly known as seasonal depression, is a subtype of depression that is most commonly associated with reduced daylight during the winter months. Harvard students have historically reported feeling as if mental health is sometimes “invisible” on campus, but mental health awareness and support groups on campus affirm that they are making efforts to eliminate stigma and help their peers through these colder months.
“It’s just kind of rough because it gets dark so early… it can be kind of discouraging when I wake up on a weekend at 1 p.m. and then I go to lunch and then I’m walking back from lunch at like 2:45 p.m. and it’s golden hour… It kind of makes me sad because the day is gone before it even started,” Samuel Rudavsky ’29 recounted regarding his first winter living in Boston.
Harvard offers several campus-based mental health resources, including Counseling and Mental Health Services (CAMHS), which provide individual counseling, urgent care, and a 24-hour CAMHS support line at (617) 495-2042. In addition to clinical services, Room 13, a peer counseling group, is open every night of the academic year from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Student organizations, including Active Minds, also focus on mental health awareness and aim to reduce the stigma around these topics.
At Room 13, seasonal changes directly shape the concerns students bring in, many of which intensify during the winter months. “In the winter, you obviously have people who are working on saying goodbye to certain things, or people who are still new to New England winter,” an anonymous representative from the organization stated.
For their program, counselor anonymity provides a means for students to openly express their concerns and receive peer support.
“I think one of the strongest parts of our modality is that we’re anonymous… People can really have that full freedom to say whatever they want, however bizarre or insecure or nervous they are about it, we really try to keep that a safe and private space for everyone,” they continued.
When considering seasonal depression, symptoms can be hard to spot and often overlap with academic stress or burnout. Symptoms include, but are not limited to, persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, anxiety, and emptiness; loss of pleasure in routine activities; difficulties concentrating, remembering, or making decisions; oversleeping; social withdrawal or loss of interest; and changes in sleep or appetite patterns.
Active Minds is another of Harvard’s many mental health support groups, specifically focused on spreading awareness about issues like depression and anxiety. “We try to bring together Harvard’s community under the realm of mental health,” Olivia Weber ’26 said, co-President of Harvard’s Active Minds. “We do a lot of mental health awareness on campus, making sure students know about mental health resources on campus, giving students different places to do self-care.”
These seasonal challenges shape how campus mental health organizations structure outreach and peer support during the winter months. For Weber, finding common ground with students is a strategy to bridge the gap between those struggling with their mental health and finding the right resources to help them.
She highlighted the importance of communicating and connecting with peers to bolster mental health support. “If I go into a conversation and talk about if I had seasonal depression or whatnot… others might feel comfortable to talk to me about theirs. Not feeling alone in your struggle is huge. As cliche as it might sound, it’s huge to know that other people are going through the same thing,” she added.
Active Minds further works to reduce stigma by encouraging students to be open with one another in their respective mental health struggles. “A big part of mental health stigma lies around this false notion that you’re alone and how you’re feeling is wrong, and you’re somehow weak for feeling that. Those false notions can be really harmful for people,” said Weber.
Nearly 25% of all college students report experiencing symptoms commonly associated with the “winter blues.” Seasonal affective disorder affects approximately 5% of adults in the United States, with another 10-20% reporting milder seasonal mood changes. Harvard’s undergraduate population draws students from across the country and around the world, including many regions with warmer climates or more consistent daylight hours. These transitions can make winter months especially difficult for some students.
Mounting academic pressure at Harvard caused by recent conversations around recentering grading systems has also increased uncertainty and concern for students. In a Jan. 26 email to students, Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh outlined the administration’s wishes: “Last semester, there was a lot of talk about grading, and this semester there will be even more. A faculty committee will soon propose possible changes to our current grading policies, and the faculty as a whole will then vote on whether to approve those changes,” she wrote.
“I’d now like to solicit your thoughts about generative AI…The goal of the [Generative AI Student] summit is to bring together students to make recommendations about the College’s AI policies,” she continued.
Together, these recent academic policy discussions have heightened a sense of uncertainty that students say compounds seasonal stress.
“I definitely think that academics are always contributing to different mental health conditions. I know, personally, academics have impacted my level of anxiety,” noted Weber. “I think when we can have these resources on campus and figure out what works for us in terms of self-care, hopefully that can buffer academic stress a little bit.”
Though Harvard’s services work to aid student health, some are simply unaware of the initiatives on campus, posing a potential problem in reducing seasonal depression. Awareness of Harvard mental health initiatives remains uneven which students say can limit their impact during these winter months: “I’m sure the services are great, it’s just that the marketing could probably be improved,” Rudavsky said.
Seyi Amosun ’29 (samosun@college.harvard.edu) and Sonia Singh ’29 (soniasingh@college.harvard.edu) write News for the Harvard Independent.