Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Spring is upon us, but things like the time change Sunday morning and the change to Spring can affect one’s mental health just as much as the change to Winter.

Barbara Wheatley, Lead Clinician at Memorial Behavioral Health, brought awareness to this form of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) during a recent conversation on the WTAX Morning Newswatch.

“When you look at like psychosis or manic symptoms, we can see an increase in symptomology during the spring,” said Wheatley. “That can kind of look like, for some people, an increase in spending, listlessness, irritability.  But there are also pressures that come along with the spring of being more social and outdoors. So, those things can trigger symptoms of mental health, especially for individuals who suffer with psychosis type symptoms or psychosis related symptoms or manic symptoms.”

With our clocks turning forward an hour Sunday morning, can this effect us?

“Your body has an internal clock, and there’s sometimes a natural wake up time for some of us,” said Wheatley. “(Also) if you’re used to taking your medication and you’re not somebody who pays attention to the clock and you’ve been taking it like when the sun is like fully up in the morning, it might be like a closer to like eight o’clock when you’re seeing that the sun is up and you’re like, ‘oh, it’s morning. I need to take my meds.’ So, it affects so many things and how much sun that we’re getting as well.”

CLICK HERE to hear the full conversation on mental health and the change in seasons.