SAD at Thirty

Sad at Thirty - produced for QMUL Centre for the History of Emotions by Natalie Steed There’s a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons – That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes – Heavenly Hurt, it gives us – We can find no scar, But internal difference – Where the Meanings, are – None may teach it – Any – ‘Tis the seal Despair – An imperial affliction Sent us of the Air – When it comes, the Landscape listens – Shadows – hold their breath – When it goes, ’tis like the Distance On the look of Death – Emily Dickinson This podcast was commissioned by Tilli Tansey, Professor of the History of Modern Medical Sciences at QMUL, and Thomas Dixon, Director of the QMUL Centre for the History of Emotions. The piece responds to the Witness Seminar, organised by Tilli Tansey, to mark the 30th anniversary of the first publication about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) in 1984. I interviewed Norman Rosenthal, the researcher who first wrote about the disorder as well as Jennifer Eastwood and Helen Hanson who are both sufferers of the disorder and who are involved in SADA (Seasonal Affective Disorder Association). Thomas Dixon and Tilli Tansey discuss their collaboration on this Witness Seminar and reflect on some of the ideas it provoked. In this podcast I wanted to reflect the story of Seasonal Affective Disorder as told in the Witness Seminar but also to try and communicate something of what it might be like to experience the disorder. Helen Hanson, the current Chair of SADA, describes how she feels her experience of SAD has influenced her work as an artist and conjures an extraordinary image of experiencing the dwindling of light on winter afternoons as “the hour of the wolf”. Natalie Steed