Amid shopping, holiday parties and spending Christmas morning unwrapping gifts with loved ones, cheerful holiday-goers shouldn’t forget that, for those suffering from depressive symptoms, the holidays can be an extremely lonely time.
So say Golden Triangle mental health experts Katrina Sunivelle, the executive director of Contact Helpline, and Patricia Thornton, a spokeswoman for Community Counseling Services.
“It’s a stressful time of year for many people,” said Sunivelle, who answers crisis calls at Contact Helpline from individuals in North Mississippi that are contemplating suicide, looking for mental health resources or just hoping to vent to someone.
Depression is a much more common problem than people realize, said Thornton. Approximately 1.6 million Americans are believed to have had a depressive episode in 2015, with one in four females and one in five males suffering from depression or major depressive symptoms, she said. When those symptoms are added to the stress of the holidays, it can make the people suffering feel worse than usual.
“People are lonely this time of year,” Sunivelle said.
Holidays bring increased depression
The reasons for increased depression during the holidays can vary from missing family to feeling down because the weather gets colder and less sunny, Sunivelle and Thornton agreed.
“People are going out and spending time with family and, for one reason or another, you’re not,” Thornton said. “Either by choice or maybe you don’t have any family to spend time with. Lots of people have difficult relationships with family.”
Both Contact Helpline and Community Counseling Services serve the Golden Triangle and surrounding counties, including Noxubee, Webster and Monroe.
Community Counseling Services serves more than 2,000 clients that have depression, Thornton said. That doesn’t include clients with other mood disorders such as bipolar disorder.
It also doesn’t include people whose depression is undiagnosed, said Sunivelle. Though the calls Contact Helpline receives are usually anonymous, Sunivelle keeps track of data from the callers.
So far this year, she said she has received 156 calls about depression. Of those, 22 were in October, eight were in November, and five were in December.
But loneliness was a different story.
Contact Helpline has received 701 calls this year in which callers claimed they were feeling lonely or isolated. Of those, 83 were in October, 45 were in November, and there have been 13, so far, in December.
“There are a lot of lonely people in this world,” Sunivelle said.
What to do
With the already stressful managing of loneliness or sadness that comes with clinical depression, the added stresses of holiday shopping, engaging in constant community events and dealing with family can make Christmas miserable for people with depressive symptoms.
That’s why it’s important to look for signs of depression in loved ones — lack of hygiene, not eating or isolating themselves, Sunivelle said.
Help them make new memories, and let them know you care, she said. Or, as Thornton put it, be an “encourager.”
Most importantly, don’t give up on those family members, Thornton said.
“People with major depression tend to isolate themselves,” she said. “They don’t call as often as you would like. They don’t come visit as often as you would like. But just (know) to not give up on those people and recognize that it’s a part of their disease.”
Sunivelle said those suffering from depression should reach out to family, friends or professionals and not give up.
“There is help,” she said. “Reach out for help. You’re not alone.”
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