SAD AND BITTER CHRISTMAS

One of the times is coming that, for many, is one of the best and most beautiful of the year: Christmas.

Christmas depression, the syndrome of deep sadness that ‘strikes’ every December

Christmas is coming and, with it, family and company dinners, colored lights, tacky decorations, gifts, Christmas carols everywhere, religious traditions, and modern secular imitations. Who can not like it?

If all of the above repels you just imagining it, or if it produces deep sadness and melancholy instead of joy, you are not alone. In the latter case, you may be suffering from Christmas blues, or the ‘Christmas blues’

What exactly is it, and what are its causes?
We would have to categorize it as a syndrome since most diagnostic manuals in psychiatric practice do not include it. This does not mean that it does not exist, and several psychologists and psychiatrists consider it either a separate entity or a form of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

Be that as it may, it would be a condition with symptoms very similar to those of depressive disorder, but mainly limited to the Christmas season, recurrent and whose trigger is Christmas itself or circumstances related to it.

Thus, we could distinguish signs such as low mood, lack of energy, irritation, discomfort, lack of interest in doing activities, stress, anxiety, and even sleep disorders. It should also be mentioned that people who have suffered from depressive disorders are especially prone to suffer from this syndrome or suffer worsening of their disorders at this time of year.

What are your causes?

The reasons why Christmas can cause these states in people are very varied. Perhaps one of the most frequent is the absence of loved ones, which becomes especially striking on dates when it is tradition to meet with family and friends.

Likewise, and although there are no deaths involved, the feeling of distancing from people with whom we have had a conflict can also be very painful at this time.

On the other hand, the longing for times past, in which perhaps Christmas was particularly happy, can be intensified by the contrast with more adult reality. Perhaps many of the elements…