It is not uncommon to experience a let down after a busy holiday season. On the other hand, the blahs and blues we might be feeling may have no connection to the season at all. This article briefly explores winter blues, post-holiday blahs and stresses, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and serious depression. It also provides suggestions for preventing and coping with the extra stress and handling residual feelings during this time.

As we know, often the boundary between a natural response to a given situation and a more serious mental health issue may be defined by the magnitude of the response and in the length of time certain feelings and reactions persist. Thus, this article also explores the signs and indicators for determining more serious, clinical depression. As family, friends, church leaders and congregation members, it is important to be supportive of one another and to be aware that marked mood and behavioral changes could be indicative of the need for professional help and support. Feelings and expressions of intense sadness, despondency and despair should never be taken lightly, treated trivially or minimized by others.

• Winter Blues and Post-holiday Blahs
• Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
• Depression
• How Congregations Can Be Supportive

More help
Learn more about serious mental illness, the Presbyterian policy toward mental illness and how congregations can respond.

What causes winter blues and post-holiday blahs? Here are a few possibilities:

• The markers of the holiday season, increased social activity, changes in food and exercise routines, disagreements among family members who encounter one another only around holidays, looming holiday credit card bills — any and all can produce stresses that can trigger an episode of depression.
• During winter's short days and long nighttime darkness, it is quite common for people to experience a decrease in energy and motivation. Severe and prolonged manifestation of this phenomenon is often characterized as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
• Individuals who have suffered major losses—deaths of significant people in their lives, relationships that end, significant changes in economic standing through job loss or unsuccessful investments—may go through intense periods of grief and sadness that are often more pronounced during holiday periods.
• People who are no longer living independently frequently experience increases in visits from family, friends and groups over holiday periods. After the holiday season, life returns to a more normalized routine and that can leave one feeling newly isolated and alone.
• People who struggle with bouts of depression may find that the realities of the holiday season are disappointingly different than the joy and family closeness promoted and expected and experience recurrent feelings of melancholy or intermittent episodes of clinical depression. Feelings of loss and loneliness and sorrow may be particularly acute if one is alone during the holidays and seemingly out of sync with the purported, prevalent "happy" celebrations of others.
• The holiday season can bring a sense of overwhelming responsibility and at the end, physical exhaustion. In addition to the spiritual aspects of celebration, the holidays often become a dizzying array of competing demands. Work, visits with family and friends, gift buying, baking, shopping, cleaning, caring for kids on school break, and scores of other chores can leave a person physically worn out . The holidays may also have brought conflicting customs, traditions and celebrations to a typically agreeable household and can put a new strain on relationships.
• Nearly unachievable expectations from the media, family and society of the "perfect" decorations, food, atmosphere and family interactions leave many people feeling less than adequate—with or without benefit of critique from others.
• When credit card bills begin to arrive, the picture is sometimes not pretty. Most people spend extra money during the holidays on gifts, travel, food and entertainment. This can make for an anxious holiday season and worry over debt in the new year.
• The job responsibilities left in December are exactly the same ones found in January, only now they are compounded by accumulated work and calls during holidays when offices and businesses are typically closed.

1. Provide and take advantage of social support. If one is feeling isolated or down, family members, friends or congregation members can provide support and companionship. Moreover, quite often it is helpful to learn that one is not alone in feeling blah and blue.
2. Be realistic. As families change and grow, traditions may need to change as well. Hold on to those family rituals that are most important —a special food or holiday activity—but understand that some may no longer be possible. If this holiday was different than you intended, or different from those you have experienced in the past, appreciate it for what it was, not what you had thought it would or should be.
3. Resolve to stick to a budget in the future and plan ahead. Before you go shopping, decide how much money you can afford to spend on gifts and other items, and then stick to your budget. Donate to a charity in someone's name, consider giving homemade gifts, or start a gift exchange to limit the number of gifts you must buy.
4. Return to healthy eating and exercise patterns. Get plenty of sleep and schedule time for physical activity. Walk in the sunlight during the warmest part of the day. Gear down in the evening before bedtime. Take a walk at night (properly attired, of course) and stargaze. Listen to soothing music. Mediate. Pray. Find something that clears the day from your mind, slows your breathing and restores your calm.
5. Rethink resolutions. Making resolutions can set you up for failure if they are not realistic. Instead of resolving to change your whole life around to make up for the excesses of the last couple of months, try to return to your basic life patterns and routines. Choose resolutions that help you feel valuable and provide more than brief moments of happiness. Commit yourself to a healthier lifestyle and make small, easy changes toward that process. Remember that some of the most helpful resolutions are based on positive things you resolve to do—new habits you plan to form—not just resolving not to do certain things.
6. Give yourself a break and forget about perfection. Expect and accept human imperfections (including your own).
7. Remember, a key to minimizing holiday stress and the blues is awareness that the holidays are stressful and can make you sad, despite the glitter and glamour and festivities.
8. Seek professional help if you need it. Despite your best efforts you may find yourself feeling persistently sad, anxious, plagued by physical complaints, unable to sleep, irritable, hopeless and unable to face routine chores. If feelings of anxiety, sadness and lack of energy or changes in life routine—sleeping, eating, or working—last for several weeks, professional help may be needed.