In the News

TORONTO -- Post-holiday blues are as common as returning gifts for many people.

Seasonal affective disorders -- known as SAD -- have symptoms similar to depression and can include a lack of energy, an increased need for sleep, and a craving for foods that put on the pounds.

Latitude plays a role in the problem. SAD almost doesn't exist in Florida but is quite high in Alaska.

The closer you are to the equator, the better your mental health, said Ingrid Mraz, of Mood Disorders Association of Ontario, who has suffered from SAD for 25 years.

Jillian Follert

DURHAM -- When you're in the midst of a mental heath diagnosis, treatment or crisis, it can feel like you're drowning.

Bonnie Atkinson remembers trying to process what was happening when her daughter began showing symptoms of bipolar disorder during her second year at university.

"It was a very hard time, it was overwhelming," the local woman says.

Melanie Cummings, SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER

As society attempts to break down the stigma attached to mental illness, talking about that illness, such as depression or a bipolar disorder, has been a sensitive topic reserved for certain circles.

Once a month for the past 20 years, Equilibrium has been one of those circles.

And while the peer support group may be attempting to break the stigman, it has  not forsaken its mandate, to offer an inner circle.