Some people can’t wait for the holidays to arrive, while others dread when they look at the calendar and see Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s all coming up. If you experience mental health issues such as depression, it may almost seem like when the holidays roll around, your depression and levels of anxiety seem to grow. So, is it normal to feel this way?
Let’s review what impact the holiday season can have on your mental health issues such as depression and what you can do to turn the holiday season around into an enjoyable experience.
Is There Really a Connection Between Depression and the Holidays?
Like many other things with mental illness, there is plenty of misinformation regarding depression and the holiday season. There has long been a social rumor that suicide rates peak during the Christmas and holiday season, but this isn’t true. In fact, according to the trade publication Psychology, Today suicide rates are actually at their lowest during December. Since suicide rates have a direct correlation with depression, but they’re actually low during the holidays, where does this information come from?
There actually is a typical increase in depression during the holiday season, but it’s possible a seasonal influx of depression can be contributed to the season itself and not to the dread of meeting family members. The human body loves and needs sunlight, so when the levels of sunlight drop during the short days of winter (not so coincidentally the same time as the holiday season) our bodies can be affected. This is known as seasonal depression or seasonal affective disorder (SAD.)
SAD can cause our circadian rhythm to go haywire, can cause a drop in your serotonin levels and a drop in your body’s natural production of melatonin. All these factors can make even people with average mental health feel depressed and can make depression already being suffered by others worse. The fact that SAD coincides with the holiday season may be a reason for the influx of heightened depression over the holidays, compounded with other personal issues you may experience over the holidays.
There is a connection between the holidays and depression, but it could be contributed to the low levels of sunlight. If your depression seems to spike over the holidays, have a chat with your counselor, therapist, or psychiatrist to see what you can do to make the holidays full of cheer, and not depression.