Written by Dr. Francesca Adriana Boccalari, Clinical Director and Co-Founder of Therapsy – licensed psychologist, Ordine degli Psicologi della Lombardia n. 16241.
Quick answer: Summer depression is a real, clinically recognized pattern of low mood that appears or worsens during the warm months – and for expats in Italy, August is its perfect storm. The country slows down, friends leave, routines dissolve, and the distance from home suddenly feels wider. The good news: it is understandable, temporary, and treatable – and August is actually one of the smartest moments to set up a therapy path that starts in September.
Therapsy is a multilingual psychotherapy service in Italy that connects expats with licensed therapists who speak their native language, online and in person in more than 20 Italian cities.
Key takeaways
- Summer depression is not a myth: a less common, summer-pattern form of seasonal affective disorder is described by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health – and subclinical “August blues” are far more widespread than the full disorder.
- August in Italy is structurally hard for expats: the country pauses, social networks scatter, and the usual coping structures (work, gym, routine) close for ferie.
- Feeling lonely in an empty city is normal – loneliness is about the gap between the connection you need and the connection you have, not about how many people are around.
- Therapy in Italy genuinely slows down in August – and that is okay. In my practice it is consistently the quietest month of the year, followed by the busiest: September.
- August is the ideal month to set up your path: at Therapsy the onboarding team stays active all month, urgent cases are matched with available therapists, and everyone else can book their free assessment call for September.
Every year, in the last week of July, the same thing happens in my consulting room: the calendar starts to empty. Patients leave for the sea, for the mountains, for their home countries. The metal shutters come down along my street in Milan, one “Chiuso per ferie” sign after another. And every year, a quieter, more private phenomenon happens at the same time: some of the people who stay behind – very often expats – start to feel worse, not better.
That experience has a name: summer depression. It sounds like a contradiction, because we are taught that sunshine equals happiness and that sadness belongs to November. But more than 5 million foreign residents live in Italy (ISTAT), and for many of them August is the loneliest month on the calendar. In this guide I want to explain why that happens, what I see clinically, what actually helps – and how to use August strategically, instead of just surviving it.
What is summer depression, exactly?
Summer depression is a pattern of clinically significant low mood, anxiety, or irritability that appears or intensifies during the summer months. In its full clinical form it is recognized as a less common, summer-pattern presentation of seasonal affective disorder, described by the National Institute of Mental Health: while most seasonal depression arrives with winter darkness, a smaller group of people reliably struggles when the heat, the light, and the disruption of routine arrive.
Alongside the clinical picture, there is a much wider grey zone that I see far more often: people who would never meet the criteria for a disorder but who feel flat, restless, and strangely sad in August. Sleep suffers in the heat. Appetite changes. The structure that quietly holds a week together – work, gym, language class, Sunday plans – dissolves all at once. Low mood loves an empty calendar.
Neither version means something is wrong with you. Both respond well to the same things: structure, connection, and – when the weight is real – psychotherapy, which remains one of the best-supported treatments for depression and anxiety in every season.
Why does August in Italy hit expats so hard?
Because in Italy, August is not just a month – it is a collective ritual that expats were never given a part in. Around Ferragosto, the national holiday on 15 August, the country performs a synchronized pause: offices close, cities empty, and everyone seems to have somewhere to go – the family house by the sea, the village in the mountains, the grandparents’ table.
If you grew up here, that ritual comes with a script and a destination. If you moved here, August strips away almost everything your wellbeing quietly relies on:
- Your people leave. The colleagues, classmates, and friends who structure your week scatter across Italy and the world. Group chats go silent.
- Your routines close. The gym, the co-working space, the favourite cafe – chiuso per ferie. Routine is an anti-depressant, and August cancels it.
- Home is far away. Many expats cannot simply drive to a family beach house. Flights in August are expensive, leave is limited, and some of my patients cannot travel home at all.
- The comparison machine runs hot. Social media in August is a nonstop parade of other people’s holidays – in your home country and in your adopted one – landing exactly when you feel most stuck.
Add the heat, which disturbs sleep and shortens patience, and you have what I consider the most underestimated stress test of expat life in Italy. We wrote more broadly about this in our guide to expat loneliness in Italy – August simply concentrates it into four weeks.
The empty-city paradox: lonely while everyone else is on holiday
Loneliness researchers make a distinction that I find myself repeating every August: loneliness is not the absence of people – it is the gap between the connection you need and the connection you have (a helpful overview is on HelpGuide). That is why you can feel fine alone in February and desolate alone in August: the gap has widened, not the room.
For expats there is an extra twist I hear in session after session: “Everyone has somewhere to be. I am the only one with nowhere to go.” The empty city becomes a mirror: it reflects back the question of belonging that expat life keeps open – is this home, or am I just here? In August, with the usual noise turned off, that question gets loud.
If that question is loud for you right now, you are not broken and you are not behind. You are having an accurate emotional response to a real situation. What matters is what you do with the four weeks – and that is where I want to be practical.
Feeling the August weight already? Talking to a professional who understands expat life can change the shape of the month. Therapsy offers a free first call with a licensed therapist who speaks your language – online, wherever you are.
Is it normal that therapy slows down in August?
Yes – and I would rather tell you honestly than pretend otherwise. We are in Italy: like everyone else, some of our therapists take a well-earned break in August. Schools are closed, many patients travel or go back to their home countries, and the demand for sessions naturally drops. In my own practice, August is consistently the quietest month of the year.
And then comes September – reliably the opposite. The city refills, inboxes explode, and therapy requests spike. Every year I watch the same wave: the people who quietly struggled through August all reach out in the same two weeks. The result is that September starts are negotiating for the same calendar slots at the same time.
There is a strategic lesson in that pattern, and it is the single most useful thing this article has to say: the smartest time to organize a September start is August itself.
What I tell my patients who struggle in August
Not everyone needs therapy to get through August. Here is the practical advice I give – to patients and, honestly, to friends.
Rebuild a skeleton of structure
When the imposed routine disappears, replace it with a chosen one. Anchor the day with two or three fixed points: a morning walk before the heat, a set lunch time, an evening ritual. The content matters less than the regularity – structure is scaffolding for mood.
Schedule connection, do not wait for it
In August, spontaneous social life is on holiday too. Book contact the way you book meetings: a standing video call with a friend abroad, one planned coffee per week with whoever is still in town. If you are far from your best friend, our piece on building authentic connections abroad goes deeper.
Ration the holiday feed
You do not need a digital detox sermon from me. Just notice the arithmetic: every minute scrolling other people’s beaches is a minute comparing your inside to their outside. Set a limit, especially in the evening, when the empty-flat feeling peaks.
Use the quiet on purpose
An empty city has real gifts: museums without queues, cooler evening streets, time to think. The difference between loneliness and solitude is intention. Give the quiet a job – a project, a course, a plan for autumn. Which brings me to the most important use of an empty August.
Should you start therapy in August or wait for September?
My honest answer: use August to set it up, so that September starts working for you on day one. Here is how I break it down with the people who contact us in August:
| Your situation in August | What I recommend |
|---|---|
| You are in acute distress – panic attacks, a crisis, a loss, you feel unsafe | Do not wait. Contact us now: urgent cases are matched directly with the therapists available during August. |
| You are struggling but functioning – low mood, loneliness, the “August weight” | Book your free assessment call now. We use it to understand what you need, and you start with the right therapist in September, ahead of the rush. |
| You have been thinking about therapy “at some point” | August is your moment: you have time to reflect, and setting up now means your path is ready exactly when routine returns. |
Think of it like enrolling before the semester starts. The September wave is real: organizing in August means your first proper session is not lost in it. If you are unsure how the whole process works in Italy, our guide to starting therapy in Italy walks through every step.
How Therapsy works in August
Therapsy does not close for ferie – we slow down, like the rest of Italy, but the door stays open. Here is exactly what happens if you reach out this month:
- You send a request through therapsy.it – it takes two minutes, in your language.
- Our onboarding team picks it up. The team stays active throughout August, with reduced availability – real people, not an autoresponder.
- If your situation is urgent, we match you directly with one of the therapists available during the month, online or in person.
- If it can wait a few weeks, we schedule your free first assessment call for September – so your path begins exactly when the city, and your routine, come back to life.
The matching itself is done by a human being, not an algorithm – I explained exactly how in how we choose the right therapist for you. It works the same in August, just with a smaller bench: we tell you honestly who is available and when.
One more August-specific advantage: online sessions travel with you. Many of our patients keep their appointments from their home country, from the beach town, from wherever August takes them. Your therapist speaks your language – and the 14 languages of our network mean the session works even when your holiday crosses borders. If your partner is Italian and August means meeting the extended family, our intercultural couples therapy page may also feel very relevant.
Frequently asked questions about summer depression and August in Italy
Is summer depression a real clinical condition?
Yes. A summer-pattern form of seasonal affective disorder is described by the National Institute of Mental Health, though it is less common than the winter form. Far more widespread is subclinical August low mood – real suffering that does not need a diagnosis to deserve attention.
Why do I feel lonely in Italy in August even though I chose to stay?
Because loneliness measures the gap between the connection you need and the connection you have. In August your social structures leave town all at once, so the gap widens even if your feelings about Italy have not changed. It is a situational response, not a verdict on your life abroad.
Are therapists in Italy available in August?
Fewer than usual – in Italy some therapists take their break in August, like everyone else. At Therapsy the onboarding team remains active all month with reduced availability, and urgent cases are matched with the therapists who are working.
Can I start therapy with Therapsy in August?
Yes. If your situation is urgent, we match you with an available therapist right away. Otherwise we use August to organize everything and book your free assessment call for September – ahead of the September rush.
What is Ferragosto, and why does everything close?
Ferragosto is Italy’s national summer holiday on 15 August, the symbolic peak of the vacation season. Around it, many businesses close for one to three weeks – the famous “chiuso per ferie” signs – and cities visibly empty.
Can I do online sessions while I am travelling?
Yes. Online sessions work from anywhere, and many patients keep their regular appointment from their home country or holiday destination. Continuity through August is one of the strongest protections against the summer dip.
How do I know if it is summer blues or something more serious?
Watch duration and depth: if low mood lasts most of the day for more than two weeks, disrupts sleep or appetite, or brings hopeless thoughts, it deserves professional attention now – not in September. The free first call exists exactly for this kind of doubt: it costs nothing to ask.
About the author
Dr. Francesca Adriana Boccalari is Clinical Director and Co-Founder of Therapsy. Licensed psychologist (Ordine degli Psicologi della Lombardia n. 16241), she graduated with honors in Clinical Psychology from Vita Salute San Raffaele University and trained in Milan, New York, and Singapore. She specializes in CBT, EMDR (certified), and Schema Therapy, with over 10 years of clinical experience and institutional collaborations with IED, Istituto Marangoni, and Sacac (Singapore). Therapsy is rated 4.7/5 on Trustpilot. Last updated: July 2026.
August does not have to be the month you just get through. Talk to someone who speaks your language – literally. Therapsy: 50+ licensed therapists – 14 languages – online and in person in 20+ Italian cities – free first call. Start your path today, and let September find you ready.
Therapsy – Multilingual Psychotherapy in Italy. Your language. Your therapist. Your pace.
Sources
- National Institute of Mental Health – Seasonal Affective Disorder: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/seasonal-affective-disorder
- World Health Organization – Mental health: strengthening our response: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response
- American Psychological Association – Psychotherapy: https://www.apa.org/topics/psychotherapy
- HelpGuide – Loneliness and Social Isolation: https://www.helpguide.org/relationships/social-connection/loneliness-and-social-isolation
Related questions
- How do expats deal with loneliness in Italy?
- What is reverse seasonal affective disorder?
- Is therapy in Italy available in English?
- How much does therapy cost in Italy for expats?
- What happens in the first therapy session?
- How does Therapsy match patients with therapists?
- Can I do therapy online while travelling in Europe?
This article was written by Dr. Francesca Adriana Boccalari, Clinical Director at Therapsy and licensed psychologist (Ordine degli Psicologi della Lombardia n. 16241), and reviewed in July 2026. The information provided is for educational purposes and does not substitute a professional consultation.
