Coping with the Holiday Blues or Depression

Making it Through Christmas and New Year when Blue or Depressed

Dec 27, 2008
Kirsti A. Dyer

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Some people do not feel merry during the holidays, instead they feel blah or blue. Holiday blues, feeling sad or depressed, are a common, normal reaction for many people.

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center's Mental Health Center, holiday blues are feelings of sadness, loneliness, depression and even anxiety in and around the holiday season.

Holiday blues is another term used for holiday depression. Symptoms of the blues may even be similar to those of clinical depression. The holiday blues or holiday depression most commonly occur during the December holidays running from before Christmas to after New Years.

Mental Help America points out that there are many people who experience post holiday let down or post holiday blues after the first of January. The post holiday blues can result from disappointments during the preceding months combined with excess fatigue and stress experienced from doing all of the things that normally need to be done during the holidays.

How to Recognize the Symptoms of the Holiday Blues

Writers from the University of Maryland Medical Center's Mental Health Center note that the symptoms of the holiday blues may present with:

Headache
An inability to sleep or sleeping too much
Changes in appetite that cause either weight loss or gain
Agitation and anxiety
Excessive or inappropriate feelings of guilt
Diminished ability to think clearly or concentrate
Decreased interest in activities that usually are enjoyable, such as: food, sex, work, friends, hobbies and entertainment.

Triggers for the Holiday Blues

Many factors can cause the holiday blues. Some of these factors include stress, fatigue, unrealistic expectations, over-commercialization, financial constraints and being separated from one’s family and friends. Staff writers at the Mayo Clinic note that there are three main triggers for the holiday blues or holiday depression: relationships, finances and physical demands.

Those who are facing the holidays without a loved one either because of death or separated by circumstances are likely to become sad, lonely or blue during the holidays. Family relationships can cause turmoil, conflict or stress at any time, but relationship issues and tensions often are heightened during the holidays. Family misunderstandings and conflicts are common and can intensify especially if people are together for several days.

The holiday season is a time when people's financial situation can cause even more stress. There are gifts, travel, food and entertainment costs that need to be covered above and beyond a person's normal expenses. Trying to find the perfect gift within a limited budget can add additional stress and strain and leave people to feel depressed and blue if unable to make sure that everyone on the list is happy.

It is not hard to get wiped out from the strain of shopping, decorating, attending parties and preparing holiday meals. The holiday season can place additional physical demands on people and set up a vicious cycle. Exercise and sleep may take a back seat to shopping, decorating and errands. These additional demands on top of normal daily life combined with stress, lack of exercise and over-eating or over-drinking contribute to increased holiday illness.

Ways to Cope with the Holiday Blues

The following basic strategies are recommended for coping with the holiday blues or any other major loss, followed by specific ways to manage the holiday blues.

Take things one day at a time and if need be one hour at a time.
Try and maintain a normal routine. Keep doing your normal daily activities.
Get enough sleep or at least enough rest.
Regular exercise, even walking, helps relieve stress, tension and improve moods.
Eat a healthy, balanced diet. Limit high calorie foods and junk food.
Avoid using alcohol, medications or other drugs to mask the pain.
Do those activities or things and be with the people that comfort, sustain, nourish and recharge you.
Remember the healthy coping strategies you have used in the past to survive challenges. Draw on these strengths again.

There are several ways to get through the stress of the holidays and help to manage the blues.

Determine your priorities.
Establish realistic goals for the holidays.
Delegate some responsibilities to others.
Set a budget and stick to it to minimize financial stress.
Enjoy free holiday activities.
Volunteer your time or presence and help someone else.

Perhaps one of the best ways of coping with the holiday blues is to focus on the true meaning of the holiday, what ever that may mean and work to share the holiday spirit.

Natural Course for the Blues

Though intense and unsettling the holiday blues are usually short-lived and last at the most a few weeks around the holidays. The good news is that the holiday blues usually subside after the holiday season is over and people get back into their normal daily routines.

When to Get More Concerned

Anyone who experiences the holiday blues daily for more than two weeks or has thoughts of harming him or herself may be experiencing something more serious than the blues and needs to seek professional help.