Blue Monday

Going on the amount of snow heaped up on the roofs outside my office window, today should be called White Monday rather than Blue Monday. But apparently the Monday in the last full week of January is now known as Blue Monday - the day out of all 365 (or 366 in a leap year) which is supposedly the most depressing of the year. Not just because we are laid low by the bad weather, post-Xmas debt, and possibly the size of our waist-lines following a bit of seasonal binging, but because of a complicated equation devised by a certain Dr Cliff Arnall (formally a tutor at Cardiff University psychology department) a few year ago. 

You can find out more about that here.

Personally I don't do maths (well only in a pathetic finger-counting rubbish sort of way), so equations are out for me. But really, is mid - late January each year really so much more depressing for people than any other time of year? And are the factors quoted in the equation likely to affect most of the population in this same way at this same time each year?

At The Guardian Dean Burnett calls it a "depressing day of nonsense science (again)".

On a more serious note, for those people that experience SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) then any day with low light at this time of year could potentially be challenging. There is more information about SAD here. Mental Health Research UK is running a campaign called Blooming Monday to encourage people to dress more brightly to raise awareness about SAD. (There is a bright blue streak in my otherwise purple scarf if that counts....)

But back to Blue Monday. All kinds of organisations have taken advantage of the media hype to promote their own ways of overcoming the blues of this particular January Monday. If a man in blue lycra takes your fancy, then there's even a video:

The language of mental health

So often the language around mental health is put into medical terms. As a worker I am relatively new to the field of mental health (three years ago), and still sometimes have to stop myself using this language. Terms such as “disorder”, “mental illness” and the “need for a cure” are commonly found in articles in the media about mental health. Friends and family refer to mental “illnesses” as a matter of course, many of them being unfamiliar with alternative terms.

Yet since working in the field of mental health (Powys Agency for Mental Health in fact) I have become acutely aware that many people experiencing mental distress are not at all comfortable with this medical language.

So, perhaps wellbeing is a better word to use than health. Or is it? The more I think about it the more I feel I need clarity. So I checked out some definitions:

Health – the condition of the body and the degree to which it is free from illness, or the state of being well.

Wellbeing - the state of feeling healthy and happy.

(both definitions courtesy of the Cambridge Dictionary online). So, one is “being well”, and the others is…. “wellbeing…”

 

Before I tie myself completely in knots writing about language, I would like to share an essay about the subject on another blog – which was recently brought to my attention. The essay is by “psychiatric survivor” David Oaks, and is called “Let’s stop saying mental illness.” You can find the link here on Mind Freedom’s site.

Let us know what you think.

 

There is another relevant article by Clare Allen, The Guardian writer on mental health matters, here, followed by some thought-provoking comments by readers. 

Actually, Clare’s column is well worth a regular read.