Vintermörkrets påverkan på studenter vid Umeå universitets psykiska mående : En kvalitativ studie om mörker och säsongsdepression

Sammanfattning: The changes of the seasons are a phenomenon we as people in many cases are affected by multiple times a year. However, how much this change affects us differs from where in the world you live. In the northern hemisphere, life can change drastically when the sun goes from shining the majority of the day to the day being mostly in darkness during wintertime. Most people are affected by this change somehow, especially the change from brighter days to darker. This is when feelings of community, hopefulness and happiness can be switched out with feelings of loneliness, malaise and even depression. This paper shows that although not all people experience the changes in these black-or-white ways, it is clear that the gray area between not being affected at all or shutting down completely is large and sometimes hard to define.  In this study, we have examined the general outlook towards winter darkness and the experiences of students at Umeå University, Sweden, who moved here from a more southern part of Sweden where the darkness is not as drastically changing during wintertime. We also interviewed the student health team at Umeå University to gain knowledge about however this is something they are working actively against or not.