By ANALOU DE VERA
DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan – The holidays are said to be the season to be jolly but people may tend to experience feelings of anxiety or “holiday blues” during this time of the year.
Holiday blues is a short-term or temporary feeling of anxiety or sadness, said Frances Prescilla Cuevas, chief health program officer of the National Mental Health Program of the Department of Health.
“Temporary lang siya. Dumarating lang siya pag for example it’s Christmas because there are a lot of expectations that are happening. Expectation ng tao sayo or expectation mo sa sarili mo on the event itself,” explained Cuevas during a DoH media forum here.
Although it is only a temporary feeling, Cuevas noted that it should not be ignored as it may lead to “long-term mental health condition.” Cuevas added that holiday blues is different from clinical anxiety or depression.
“It is a temporary feeling, however, even if they differ from clinical anxiety or depression they should still be taken seriously as they can lead to long-term mental health conditions if unable to get over the holiday blues,” said Cuevas.
“At this point in time of your life, you may be fine and well. And yet there’s a point in your life that you have this vague feeling of anxiety, hindi mo alam kung ano ‘yung nangyayari sa’yo. Kung hindi mo iyan maaagapan, you will already have a fully defined mental health condition,” she added.
Cuevas said that aside from expectations, the holiday blues might also be triggered by financial stress, family members who are not around anymore, if you are far away from home, had a bad memory in the past during this time of the year, or it may also be due to traffic, among others.
“Who are affected? Anyone at any age. No one is exempted. Any one of us can be affected by this,” said Cuevas.
In order to combat the holiday blues, Cuevas said that an individual must learn how to love his or her own self.
“Pag sinabi natin na self-love, hindi naman masama siguro na tingnan mo ang sarili mo in a positive light. What we need to understand is that we have to care for ourselves,” she said.
“You must know yourself, you must know your capacity, and the things you can do to understand who you are,” she added.
Cuevas also advised the public that they should only deal with realistic expectations.
“Ano ba ang kaya ko? Baka unrealistic ang expectations mo or ng loved ones mo. Do not burden yourself with a lot of expectations. Realistic ka lang sa kaya mo,” she said.
The Health official said that a person should also learn to appreciate the things that he or she has. “I think it is a very powerful thing that we need to remember. When we look at what we have, then we begin to be grateful. We begin to be grateful that there are things that are happening in my life that can make me very, very happy. So we look at the future with optimism and that is very important,” said Cuevas.