Does the New Year make us more vulnerable to depression?

The media version of the New Year, what we see on television programs, cultural events on the street and even advertising pieces issued on those dates, is characterized by joy, good wishes and affection towards beings dear.

In short, almost everything that makes up what in Psychology receives the name of "positive affectivity": a mental state that allows us to experience well-being and brings us closer to happiness.

However, in the same way that saying something is not the same as doing it, the New Year that we see through the screens does not have to correspond to the one lived by the vast majority of the people. For many, this time does not mean anything special, and is simply another mark on the calendar. And for others, not only are they not dates to feel happy, but they make them feel sad, anguished or invaded by hopelessness.

And is that the link between the New Year and depression It makes many people vulnerable to this mood disorder find it difficult not to feel too bad during those days that link one year to the next. Here we will see why this phenomenon is due, and what can be done to face it.

• Related article: "Major depression: symptoms, causes and treatment"

The impact of cultural phenomena on mental health

Mood disorders linked to depression don't just happen; the frequency and intensity of its symptoms are linked to our experiences.

This does not mean that certain events inevitably lead us to a depressed mood, of course. The way we interpret what is happening around us plays a very important role in our mental health, making us more or less vulnerable depending on our belief system, attitudes and ideas. The same event can be traumatic for one individual, and emotionally neutral for another.

Now, although the subjectivity of each person influences our propensity to develop disorders psychological, these ways of interpreting reality are never entirely individual and detached from the context; the "glasses" with which we read what happens around us are not our inventions built from scratch; are influenced by cultural phenomena that mobilize thousands or millions of people. And New Year's is a good example of this.

The relationship between the New Year and depression

Obviously, the mere existence of the New Year does not put everyone at a higher risk for symptoms of depression. This link between depressive disorder, on the one hand, and the holidays at the end of the year and the beginning of the following, on the other hand, it is only significant in certain people with a predisposition to this alteration psychological.

How is this link produced? First of all, New Year invites us to look back and make an assessment of what has happened to us. If we think it has been a bad year or things have happened for which we have suffered a lot, all the negative emotional charge of the last 12 months will hit us at once, accumulated in a single mental image, and this may be reason enough for us to lose the desire to participate in any potentially enjoyable and stimulating activity, which worsens our mood because we feel isolated, disconnected from the rest.

What's more, New Year encourages comparisons. And either when comparing our progress with that of other people, or when comparing ourselves with the "I" of 12 months ago. If the result of this mental exercise is unfavorable, it will damage our self-esteem and our ability to believe in ourselves. Emotional stagnation and hopelessness are another of the basic ingredients of depression, and New Year's can trigger them if we were already in a situation of emotional vulnerability.

Finally, the combination of all of the above can lead us to become obsessed with the idea that we are marked by many problems that haunt us wherever we go, and that do not disappear even if the months.

This is the breeding ground for rumination, which is the tendency to give a lot of thought to those kinds of thoughts that worry us. It is, in short, a kind of psychological "tunnel vision", which leads us not to be able to stop think of distressing ideas, leaving only a few hours to "rest" between a ruminative cycle and following.

As you may have guessed, the rumination it is also associated with depression. Pessimism attracts pessimism, and one of the characteristic aspects of depression is its character self-referential: sadness reminds us that we have reasons to be sad, so to speak summarized.

• You may be interested: "On happiness: what is it that we all seek?"

How to combat depression in the New Year?

Psychotherapy has been shown to be an effective way to combat depression once their symptoms have begun to manifest themselves, and to avoid relapses when a depressive crisis has already been left behind. The tools used by psychologists are varied and adapt to the characteristics of each patient, but there is something in common in all of them: the adoption of new behavioral habits and new mental frameworks from which to interpret reality in a way is encouraged constructive.

At Psicomaster we have a highly trained team with years of professional experience helping people with depression and other mood disorders. If you are interested in visiting our center in Madrid, you can find us at Calle de O'Donnell nº 32 (in the El Retiro area), or by accessing our contact information by clicking click here.

Bibliographic references:

• Belloch, A.; Sandín, B. and Ramos, F. (2010). Manual of Psychopathology. Volume I and II. Madrid: McGraw-Hill.
• Blazer, D. G., Kessler, R. C., McGonagle, K. TO. and Swartz, M. S. (1994). The prevalence and distribution of major depression in a national community sample: The National Comorbidity Survey. The American Journal of Psychiatry. 151 (7): pp. 979 - 986.
• Kotov, R.; Gamez, W.; Schmidt, F.; Watson, D., et al. (2010). Linking "big" personality traits to anxiety, depressive, and substance use disorders: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin. 136 (5): pp. 768 - 821.