Today is 'Blue Monday': It's not depression and it's quite normal, say Spanish mental health experts

'BLUE Monday' should not be confused with actual depression, and the actual date is more psychosomatic than real as the time of year in general makes for pessimistic thoughts, according to a Spanish psychiatrist.

According to the now-famous formula by Cardiff University psychologist Cliff Arnall – an equation involving number of days until payday, amount of Christmas debt, weeks left until the warmer weather comes, days since Christmas, length of time since failing New Year's resolutions, and general motivation levels – the saddest day of the year is the third Monday in January.

In 2018, 'Blue Monday' is tomorrow – January 15 – but it is not a widely-known concept in Spain, says Dr Jaime del Corral, psychiatrist at La Paz Clinic, part of the San Juan de Dios Order missionary hospital, based in Madrid.

He says it is more an invention by travel agencies to promote winter getaways as a way of customers cheering themselves up.

“Even though the mathematical formula uses real factors which affect mood, it is somewhat arbitrary and could easily be the third Tuesday or Wednesday of January or February – and if we are conditioned to believe 'Blue Monday' really is the saddest day of the year, we start to believe it,” Dr del Corral explains.

“It's natural that we feel down, stressed, and emotionally worn-out and lacking motivation at this time of year, but this should never be confused with actual depression.”

The official diagnostic manual lists a series of symptoms for major depression – an acute and serious condition, normally triggered by circumstances although with differing risk factors depending upon personality – which must be present for at least two weeks, and similar symptoms which must be present for two months or more for a person to be diagnosed with dysthymic, or chronic depression, a condition which is normally milder but ongoing and often present since earliest childhood.

Abnormal appetite – eating too much or not enough – and weight, sleeping too much or unable to sleep, constant feelings of sadness, hopelessness, fear, at times feeling worthless and with plummeting self-esteem or self-confidence, general lack of energy or enthusiasm with limited interest in life, social withdrawal, everything feeling an effort, and even physical symptoms such as aches, pains, fatigue and nausea are associated with both types of depression, making it a physical as well as a mental illness and one that will not get better merely with 'positive thinking', but usually requires medication and guided talking therapy.

'Blue Monday', by contrast, or as Dr del Corral prefers to see it, 'Blue January' or 'winter woes', is a 'normal' reaction to stress, worry and negative stimulation in general and not a medical condition per se.

“It's normal to have 'down' days,” he explains.

“Feeling sad sometimes is absolutely normal, necesssary and healthy, and if we do feel this way and know it is not actual depression, the best way to combat it and improve your mood is to keep active and not let the blues beat you.”

He says 'Blue Monday' is not so much a firm belief in Spain as a 'source of curiosity', and few people you meet in the street would recognise it or know what you are talking about, but he warns that it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“There's a direct relationship between enjoyable activities and sense of wellbeing we experience, and which usually comes at the weekends, and the contrast of Mondays when we typically feel down in comparison,” says the psychiatrist.

He assures that visits to psychiatrists and psychologists, or requests for appointments, or diagnoses of depression or other mental health disorders, do not rise on or around 'Blue Monday' in Spain.

“But Mondays are hard, January is hard and winter is hard,” he admits.

Also dismissing 'Blue Monday' as having no scientific basis is Cristina Wood, clinical psychologist from the Spanish Society for the Study of Anxiety and Stress, who says it is 'completely normal' for people to feel sad after Christmas.

“Perhaps we've lost a loved one and feel their absence more than ever over the holiday season; we've also had a lot more expenses, and we have to go back to the daily grind after the holidays,” she says, “so it is quite common to feel miserable at this time of year.”