Tackling post-holiday blues
Illustration by Sonny Ross
by Sanaphay Rattanavong
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The holiday season, often perceived as a time of joy and celebration, sometimes paradoxically intensifies underlying stress and anxiety. This phenomenon can be particularly pronounced in the post-holiday period. The abrupt return to routine life can lead to emotional downturns and mental health challenges. These challenges, while common, aren’t openly discussed enough. Social stigmas surrounding mental health means that a lot of folks are facing these issues in isolation — right now.
This time of the year perhaps has been this way for a long time, but there’s no doubt it’s been exacerbated further in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic, global conflicts that we’re now all tuned into in an unprecedented way, rising racism, skyrocketing inflation, climate-related disasters, and more have inflicted a collective trauma on societies across the globe, including the USA. A recent APA survey indicates that this prolonged stress has escalated chronic illnesses and mental health diagnoses. A lot of people are rewarded in some way for downplaying their overwhelm, but inside, they are struggling to cope. This has fostered a sense of aloneness and hindered our collective ability to plan for the future in basic ways, let alone in ways that can help us to lead joyful and thriving lives. Stressors vary across age groups, with those between 35-44 experiencing the highest increase in stress levels. Topping the stress list are concerns about health, money, the economy, family responsibilities, personal safety, and discrimination.
In this digital era, there's a transformative shift toward addressing mental wellness. Groundbreaking research from Cambridge Health Alliance on the implementation of smartphone apps in primary care settings highlights the increasing acceptance and effectiveness of digital tools. These tools, including mental health apps, are reshaping the landscape of mental health care. They offer new and much-needed avenues of support in these challenging times.
This exploration draws upon insights from Cambridge Health Alliance to equip you with tools and knowledge for managing mental wellness after the holiday season. In today's world, where traditional and digital realms converge, support and understanding are more accessible than ever. During these challenging times, hope and help is often just a click or tap away.
Sonny Ross
Why understanding post-holiday mental health matters
The festive season can paradoxically leave many feeling drained and melancholic. Known as the post-holiday blues, this is a period marked by stress, anxiety, and depression. A whiplash, if you will, stemming from the abrupt return to routine, financial pressures, and emotional impacts of family interactions.
Mental health, vital to overall well-being, is often neglected due to societal stigmas. In conservative or immigrant communities and certain professions especially, seeking help for emotional or psychological issues is often viewed negatively. Digital tools offer a solution. They provide privacy and convenience for those reluctant to seek traditional support. Smartphone apps and online counseling are discreet and accessible, making the journey to emotional healing post-holidays less solitary. But it’s not always easy figuring out which tools are most effective.
Navigating the world of mental health apps: insights from Cambridge Health Alliance
In today's digital landscape, mental health apps have become essential tools for managing well-being. However, selecting the right app poses a significant challenge. In a recent Zoom conversation with Emily Benedetto, Program Manager for Primary Care Behavioral Health Integration at Cambridge Health Alliance and a principal author of the 2019 study, we gained valuable insights. Benedetto highlighted the availability of carefully vetted toolkits in the public domain, emphasizing the importance of selecting apps that are thoroughly assessed for their usefulness to patients.
Key considerations in choosing a mental health app, as Benedetto points out, include ensuring the app is completely free, safe with a robust privacy policy, backed by medical professionals, and available on both Android and Apple platforms. These criteria are essential in making the apps accessible, trustworthy, and clinically sound.
The role of these apps, as part of Cambridge Health Alliance's approach to integrating technology into healthcare, is not to replace treatment but to supplement traditional therapy. This distinction is crucial for understanding how these apps fit into a broader mental health care strategy. The App Guides (both adult and youth) provided by the Alliance categorizes various apps by their focus areas. These range from mood and stress management to addressing specific concerns like addiction recovery and PTSD. The pandemic has underscored the importance of these apps, especially as interim support for patients awaiting therapy. As Benedetto notes: "We use these apps to provide coping skills to patients while they are waiting to see a therapist."
As technology is further integrated into healthcare, the process of selecting a mental health app involves a careful balance of personal needs, app features, and clinical credibility, guided by professional advice and established criteria, such as those utilized by Cambridge Health Alliance.
Ending note: the quest for the ideal app
In her remarks, Benedetto underscores the need for an ideal mental health app, one that effectively manages mood and anxiety and incorporates user-friendly features like simple breathing exercises and engaging activities. A significant gap she points out is the lack of multi-language support, which is vital for immigrant patients. Moreover, there is a need for more apps targeting chronic pain, as these conditions often benefit from non-pharmacological interventions like relaxation techniques and coping skills.
Interestingly, Benedetto noted that their solution, as a public healthcare system with many immigrant patients, to holiday loneliness is quite simple: “Loneliness is very real if you’re missing all the social opportunities you were having in your home country, so being in a healthcare system we’ve had the chance to create groups and bring them together — which isn’t an app.”
It’s true that apps can be lonely. But on the other hand, they can remind us that we’re not completely alone.