ANNIVERSARY REACTION AS SEASONAL MOOD DISORDER

We describe the case of a patient who, after a traumatic experience at the age of 12, had a series of anniversary depressive episodes at 16, 17, 18 and 19 years of age, followed by a series of anniversary manic episodes at the ages of 21, 23, 24, 25 and 26 years. All of these epi sodes occurred almost always a few days before or after the date of th e accident and only when the patient was residing in his home town, th e place of the traumatic event. The case fulfills the DSM-III-R criter ia for seasonal mood disorder, but differs from previously described c ases in that: (a) both depressive and manic episodes developed at the same time of the year, and (b) the illness was precipitated by psychos ocial factors rather than climatic conditions.