'Tis the Season to Battle the Holiday Blues
By: Birdie Varnedore, M.D.,
SparkPeople Blogger
12/13/2011 10:00 AM
: 18 comments
: 6,661 Views
The holiday season is in full swing now! Festive lights, the sounds of the season and holiday goodies are surrounding us on an almost daily basis. Just about everywhere you go you are reminded that it’s that time of the year. We are getting the message loud and clear that we should be happy. We’re all happy! Right?
Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Depression is a medical condition that affects 1 in 10 Americans, which equates to approximately 31 million, and it doesn’t have a season. The holidays can be particularly difficult for those with depression. The good news is that having an emotionally rough time in your life is not a medical condition in most cases. Consider the following criteria to determine whether your feelings of depression should include a visit to your physician or to a mental health professional. (SparkPeople has a comprehensive condition center with additional information and resources about depression.)
According to Mental Health America, the country’s leading nonprofit dedicated to helping all people live mentally healthier lives, this time of year can be as much about anxiety, depression, and stress as it is about joy:
Many factors can cause the “holiday blues”: stress, fatigue, unrealistic expectations, over-commercialization, financial constraints, and the inability to be with one’s family and friends. The demands of shopping, parties, family reunions and house guests also contribute to feelings of tension. People may also develop other stress responses such as headaches, excessive drinking, over-eating and difficulty sleeping. Even more people experience post-holiday let down after January 1. This can result from disappointments during the preceding months compounded by the excess fatigue and stress.
What are the symptoms of depression? According to the CDC, they are:
Learn more:
· What Causes Depression?
· Recognizing the Signs of Depression
· Types of Depression & Available Treatments
· How to Get Help for Depression
During the holiday season, feelings of depression may intensify. Mingling at holiday parties, which may be important for work and family relationships, may feel like too much trouble. Family members may become concerned about the avoidant behavior and feel slighted by the depressed person, causing even more issues. Shopping for presents may seem like a monumental task for anyone, but the indecision that is common with depression can make the task impossible, further worsening feelings of inadequacy and guilt. Appetite changes and uncontrollable overeating can lead to increased holiday weight gain. Let us not forget that remembering lost loved ones can become almost overwhelming and the feeling of hopelessness can seem almost too much to bear.
What does dealing with depression have to do with managing your weight? Why are we even discussing depression?
Depression, just like excessive stress, must be managed in order for successful and long-term weight loss to occur because it can lead to overeating in those seeking to lose or maintain weight loss. Why? Likely because overeating can be used as a form of self-medication for depression, much like those who use and abuse drugs in an attempt to alter their mood.
What do you do if you think you are depressed? Seek help. See your primary care physician for treatment and/or a referral for help or directly seek the counsel of a mental-health professional. Treating depression in many cases may be the missing ingredient for making your weight-loss plan stick. Learning how to follow a diet and exercise program requires a healthy amount of mental energy. There are many new skills to master and it requires concentration and effort make the new changes consistent and hopefully permanent. Depression is a distraction that saps your ability to reach your weight loss or maintenance goals. It also diminishes the quality of your life.
Face depression. It is critical to your weight-loss success!
More related content:
Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Depression is a medical condition that affects 1 in 10 Americans, which equates to approximately 31 million, and it doesn’t have a season. The holidays can be particularly difficult for those with depression. The good news is that having an emotionally rough time in your life is not a medical condition in most cases. Consider the following criteria to determine whether your feelings of depression should include a visit to your physician or to a mental health professional. (SparkPeople has a comprehensive condition center with additional information and resources about depression.)
According to Mental Health America, the country’s leading nonprofit dedicated to helping all people live mentally healthier lives, this time of year can be as much about anxiety, depression, and stress as it is about joy:
Many factors can cause the “holiday blues”: stress, fatigue, unrealistic expectations, over-commercialization, financial constraints, and the inability to be with one’s family and friends. The demands of shopping, parties, family reunions and house guests also contribute to feelings of tension. People may also develop other stress responses such as headaches, excessive drinking, over-eating and difficulty sleeping. Even more people experience post-holiday let down after January 1. This can result from disappointments during the preceding months compounded by the excess fatigue and stress.
What are the symptoms of depression? According to the CDC, they are:
- Little interest or pleasure in doing things
- Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless
- Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep or sleeping too much
- Feeling tired or having little energy
- Poor appetite or overeating
- Feeling bad about yourself or that you were a failure or let yourself or your family down
- Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television
- Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed, or the opposite: being so fidgety or restless that you were moving around a lot more than usual
Learn more:
· What Causes Depression?
· Recognizing the Signs of Depression
· Types of Depression & Available Treatments
· How to Get Help for Depression
During the holiday season, feelings of depression may intensify. Mingling at holiday parties, which may be important for work and family relationships, may feel like too much trouble. Family members may become concerned about the avoidant behavior and feel slighted by the depressed person, causing even more issues. Shopping for presents may seem like a monumental task for anyone, but the indecision that is common with depression can make the task impossible, further worsening feelings of inadequacy and guilt. Appetite changes and uncontrollable overeating can lead to increased holiday weight gain. Let us not forget that remembering lost loved ones can become almost overwhelming and the feeling of hopelessness can seem almost too much to bear.
What does dealing with depression have to do with managing your weight? Why are we even discussing depression?
Depression, just like excessive stress, must be managed in order for successful and long-term weight loss to occur because it can lead to overeating in those seeking to lose or maintain weight loss. Why? Likely because overeating can be used as a form of self-medication for depression, much like those who use and abuse drugs in an attempt to alter their mood.
What do you do if you think you are depressed? Seek help. See your primary care physician for treatment and/or a referral for help or directly seek the counsel of a mental-health professional. Treating depression in many cases may be the missing ingredient for making your weight-loss plan stick. Learning how to follow a diet and exercise program requires a healthy amount of mental energy. There are many new skills to master and it requires concentration and effort make the new changes consistent and hopefully permanent. Depression is a distraction that saps your ability to reach your weight loss or maintenance goals. It also diminishes the quality of your life.
Face depression. It is critical to your weight-loss success!
More related content:
- 10 Cool Ways to Beat the Winter Blues
- 15 Natural Ways to Lift Your Spirits
- Get a Handle on Emotional Eating
- The Power of Gratitude
- The Symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder
- Take a Vacation from the Blues
Dr. Birdie Varnedore, M.D., is happy to offer her expertise to the SparkPeople community; however, she cannot offer specific medical advice to dailySpark readers. Please do not share confidential medical information here. If you have a personal question or a concern about your health, please contact your health-care provider.
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Comments
This year, I'm using my music as therapy, but it's a struggle because I've developed shoulder problems that make practicing painful--another loss, but one I'm learning to address.
This, too, will pass...it always does, but the holidays are not my favorite time of the year. Giving helps, but, oh, the sorrows I then carry home from having listened. Compassion is costly sometimes. - 12/15/2011 10:18:16 AM
I had just started using Spark and was on a couple of teams when I realized there may be people suffering the same as I was, so I sent a query on the old Spark platform and received 5 answers. We felt like we helped each of us, so we started a Spark Team.
The Spark Team I co-founded those few years ago now has about 3/4 of a million members. One of the first things we did was to make it very plain that we were not any sort of health professionals, but we could talk about how we felt and what seemed to help us. We also stole a Hippocratic oath, "First, do no harm", and went on from there.
Over time, 4 years +/-, and after sharing about my problems and caring about the problems others faced, I gave up one of the Team Leaders roles. I still visit the site every now and then and if I see a thread where someone is really struggling, I try to put my two cents in and assure them that there is a future. Even if a person's depression has gotten so bad they have to be on a regimen of medications, fighting the medical balancing of chemicals is not something you can ever be without.
Like a lot of people, I tried lower doses of one of the four drugs I was taking. I was able to cut it in half (it was an anxiety drug), but found going lower put me in a tail spin. I was able to do the same thing with the drug that helped me back to a near normal sleep pattern, but again found I couldn't give it up completely. I was really frustrated and angry with my body for not being able to control my need for medications by sheer brain-power.
I'm also an Insulin dependent diabetic and I know I will probably be taking Insulin for the rest of my life. I can accept that. When I connected the fact that I had both a physical illness, where I could not quit taking medicine without shortly dying, to the fact I had a mental illness that required me to take the psychotropic drugs, I actually got to feeling better. I accepted what my reality was.
One of the reasons some people get down through the winter months is that they have what's called Seasonal Affective Disorder. It's cause is a lack of sun which leads to a shortage of vitamin D. It usually goes away within about 2-3 days of better weather and getting out into the sun and your production of Vitamin D goes up. Setting under about 200 watts of bright light for 30-45 minutes a day also helps this disorder.
I tried taking supplemental vitamin D, but it didn't work for me like it does for some people.
Living with Depression can get pretty sucky. If your doctor puts you on meds and they don't seem to be working, maybe it's time for you to see a specialist, a psychiatrist, who is much more informed about psychotropic medications then your G.P.
If anyone who reads this is at all hesitant about how to get help, you can Sparkmail me at any time. - 12/14/2011 4:41:28 PM
Martha - 12/14/2011 4:19:05 PM
Every year I just can't wait for it to be over with!! It starts before Halloween and goes on...and on...and on.... - 12/14/2011 3:03:49 PM
I definitely hope if you are suffering seek medical help with your doctor or at a clinic. There is also group therapy .
My wish for everyone is a happy stress free holiday.
I need to take my own advice , for yesterday I felt like I was on a treadmill and couldn't get off. i was doing so much and there seems to be so much expected of me. I didn't want to let anyone down. I had to step back, meditate for a while and calm down. I am feeling more calm and like my positive happy self.
My let down could be after the holidays. All the hustle and bustle is over and then what? Will have to start a new project, need to keep busy.
So I hope everyone has a Happy Holiday. - 12/14/2011 7:22:58 AM
stress, fatigue, unrealistic expectations, over-commercialization, financial constraints. If it were simply getting together to share a meal, I'd be fine with that, but all the over spending on people who don't need stuff gets me down. I throw myself into volunteering more so that the rest of the year to keep it in perspective. - 12/13/2011 11:29:20 AM
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