With the holidays upon us, the mass media give us obligatory stories about depression and the holidays. This is both good and bad … it brings to people’s minds an important topic, but as with so much the mass media do, it can also propagate misinformation. This year, it seems the record is being corrected, which is good.

In the past it’s often been said that depression is worse around the holidays, so much so that suicide is more common than at other times of the year. It turns out this is not actually the case! Read on for the clarification:

Most people have heard the bit of folk wisdom about how depression and suicide increase during the last two months of the year. The holidays can be stressful, no doubt about it: the crowds, the hassles, the cold weather, those annoying relatives you thankfully see only once a year.

And, of course, there’s seasonal affective disorder, perhaps better known by its apt acronym SAD. SAD is a mood disorder that strikes some people during the winter months, causing them to become depressed or lethargic. The disorder is not fully understood but thought to be caused by the decrease in sunlight during winter months.

While stress levels may increase, do suicide rates? After all, there are plenty of stressors throughout the rest of the year as well.

Actually there’s no evidence that suicide rates spike in December; in fact they drop slightly.

A 1987 study by researchers David P. Phillips and John S. Wills found that about 100 fewer suicides occur on holidays than other days of the year. Part of the reason may be that while holidays are stressful, they are also a time when friends and family come together, offering emotional and social support to troubled individuals.

Yep, this is a 1987 study. It turns out that it’s been confirmed by many others, since then. Snopes has a page devoted to this myth, as well. (This leaves me to ask why the myth of “depressed-holidays” has been allowed to persist for 20 years longer than necessary … but I digress.)

Another story reveals an additional, interesting fact:

While depression does occur during the holidays, local authorities agree they see a spike in depression just after the holidays, primarily in January and February.

Dr. William Kennedy, a psychologist and special deputy with the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office and a member of the hostage negotiation team for the Wilmington Police Department, said people have high levels of anxiety during the holidays and just prior to the holidays, but most depression occurs when holiday celebrations are over.

“I think a couple of things happen just after the holidays,” Kennedy said. “One is, prior to the holidays and as the holidays are going on, people tend to have more connections. They tend to talk to more people, friends and family members. Just after the holidays, that tends to decrease.”

When people talk about depression, usually they’re talking about a depressed mood. People saying, I feel down or I’ve got the blues, he said. “When you see those types of symptoms last more than a couple of weeks and they’re there most of the time, and when you see other associated features — difficulty with sleep, decreases or increases in appetite, changes and lowering of motivation — then you start to think about clinical depression. That’s what you see an increase in just after the holidays,” Kennedy said.

So it turns out that it’s not exactly the holidays that make people depressed, it’s the post-holiday crash that does it.

Knowing this, perhaps people can plan in advance. Perhaps have a get-together or party or something in the middle of January … ?