How to Cope with Valentine's Day Depression

Video Transcript

"Hi! My name is Rachel Blackston and I am here on behalf of Expert Village and I am a private practice mental health counselor in Orlando, Florida. I work at a private practice called Twelve Stones Counseling Center and it is located in Oviedo, Florida. I am here to talk about how to deal with depression over the holidays. I want to make a distinction between clinical depression and just a case of the blues. If you think you are clinically depressed, it is very important that you see a medical doctor, a psychiatrist or a professional counselor. But if Valentine's Day is bringing up a sense of sadness, loss, grief, feeling down on yourself, it is really important that you give yourself space and room to grieve. Grieve the loss of relationships. Be able to talk openly about your desire to have someone in your life and you know Valentine's Day is a great chance to take care of yourself and be kind to yourself. So get a manicure, take a bubble bath, do things to really love yourself on Valentine's Day. But I think that it is really important to give yourself space to deal with the emotions that are really there because if you don't, they are going to show up in one way or other. It is kind of like trying to hold a beach ball under water. You know if we don't give those emotions power, they can explode at various times in life. I just want to let you know again if you are struggling with the holiday blues, if there are a couple things that you can do to help cope with that, the first is to really connect, connect with other people, talk about what is really going on. Give yourself room to talk about what it is like to have Christmas without grandpa, talk about what it was like to have strange relationships in your family or to be in conflict. I think culture puts this expectation and it is the most wonderful time of year and that actually makes things worse and not better. The second is to set realistic expectations for yourself. Holiday can bring out perfectionism that you have to have the perfect tree, the perfect present, the perfect decorations and all of that takes away from time that really focuses on relationships, rest and relaxation and time with friends. I don't think that people look back on their holiday and wished that you know that they had had a bigger tree. They may have wished that they may have had more time with their kids. Also, it is so important to take care of yourself and that is nutritionally, getting plenty of rest and getting exercise over the holidays. So give yourself room to be in process, create space to talk about what is really going on and to grieve the loss of loved ones that may be triggered by the holiday season. "