Does Blue Monday affect the patient's mental health?

The third Monday in January is known as the saddest day of the year because of the English language. Blue Monday (literally translated as “Blue Monday”). Its origins go back to an advertising campaign in which a travel agency sought to increase the number of bookings on dates that were unattractive to the majority of tourists. But even though Lacks scientific basisThis term has taken root in iCollective imagination In recent years it has even reached the ears the doctors And Psychologists.

to Anthony Torresresponsible for Mental Health Working Group Follower Spanish Society of General Practitioners and Family Physicians (SEMG)This type of annual event contributes to… “Stigmatizing moments and situations“, which is harmful to the doctor, as it could be”“Enhancing the cause of emotional disturbances”.

Removing grief in medicine and psychology

Therefore, the specialist believes that taking this measure is “counterproductive.” Blue Monday As something true: “If we insist on giving this definition, We do no favors for anyone: neither sick nor well“, he asserts. He also insists on the necessity”Remove the drama from sadness “as a disease” because “Basic emotion“You have to know how to deal with it, assume and overcome it,” he explains.

The first step to follow Primary health care When a patient comes to counseling sad, it is, as Torres puts it, “to check whether… An episode of sadness or a picture of emotional distress“, explains. In the first case, the role of the health worker is “Enhance the naturalness of the situation“We advise the patient to take refuge in his immediate environment and hobbies, and to abandon any feelings of guilt.”We must not surrender to sadness even if we know that it will accompany us for a while“, Add.

Mercedes Bermejovowel Official College of Psychology of Madridshares with Torres the need to get rid of sadness, but the opposite of what he finds in it Blue Monday a A “positive” approach is possible To help with this task. “For some people, if they feel sad that day because of problems such as work, cold or money, this can calm them down and bring the situation back to normal,” explains the psychiatrist. He adds: “This person may believe that the problem is not his problem, but there is a social predisposition and common variables that 'call for' sadness.”

Dangers of Blue Monday: Minimizing mental health problems

However, Bermejo has warned of the danger of exaggerating these statements since then “Normalizing a specific grief is not the same as normalizing a specific grief Blue Monday What are chronic episodes? Confirms. She herself received many patients who came for consultation Symptoms of depression Without knowing it, because they “absorbed it and learned to live with it,” he asserts. For this reason, he also sees in these types of special dates the danger of “underestimating mental health problems,” and invites us to use this day as an opportunity to reflect and evaluate whether grief is temporary or manifests itself in a chronic and chronic form. In a long way. At that time.

But he added that January is the month that records the highest peak in demand for consultations. psychologydue to issues such as Back from Christmas breakOr being exposed to family disputes, returning to work, or facing financial and other expenses. However, remember that the important thing regardless of the time of year is “See a psychiatrist if chronic grief occurs“He concludes.

Focus on the blue Monday of psychiatry

from your side antonio balbuena, The vowel of Spanish Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health (Sepsm), He supports Bermejo's approach and recognizes that this history “has helped to comment and bring into account everyday conversations.” Its relationship to our moods and emotions“It also does not identify it as a ‘counterproductive’ factor for patients with illnesses such as depression, because they ‘know’ very well what depression is.” Pathological sadness He answers: “And they do not confuse that.”

Moreover, it notes an extension of the duration during the first months of the year when A “Limiting the spectrum of pleasure”But remember that “there are many types of disorders and some of them are independent of these factors.” However, he emphasizes that psychiatry has proven that “seasonality presents us with variations in many disorders, both physical and mental.”