We come across unhappiness, sadness or grief in every context throughout our lives. We feel depressed when a closed one dies, or we suffer a personal tragedy. Most of us are able to cope with these and other types of stressful events. In due course of time, majority of us are able to return to normalcy. But when these feelings of sadness and other symptoms last for more than a couple of weeks, it challenges our ability to perform even routine daily activities.  At its worst, this mental depression may lead us to contemplate or commit suicide.

Another mental illiness is Schizophrenia. It is a group of severe mental disorders characterized by disturbances of language and communication; thought disturbances that may involve distortion of reality, misperceptions, delusions and hallucinations; mood changes and withdrawn, regressive, or bizarre behavior, lasting longer than six months. Usually with schizophrenia, the person`s behaviour changes notably. Behavior changes might include the following: Social withdrawal, Depersonalization, Loss of appetite, Loss of hygiene, Delusions, Hallucinations.

A person with schizophrenia may not physically appear to be ill. People with schizophrenia vary widely in their behavior as they struggle with an illness beyond their control. In active stages, those affected may ramble in illogical sentences or react with uncontrolled anger or violence to a perceived threat. People with schizophrenia may also experience relatively passive stages in which they seem to lack personality, movement, and emotion (also called a. flat affect). People with schizophrenia may alternate in these extremes. Their behavior may or may not be predictable.

According to Dr. Norman Rosenthal of the National Institute of Mental Health: "Light, a versatile therapeutic tool, has been shown scientifically to have beneficial clinical effects in treating depression & suicidal tendencies." The onset of spring gives thousands of people relief from seasonal affective disorder. This miserable condition is a suppression of serotonin experienced by many who are deprived of sunlight during the winter.