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   How to beat the blues
According to psychiatrists, the combination of debt, dreary winter weather, post-Christmas blues and broken New Year’s resolutions, leads many to think of the third Monday in January as the most depressing day of the year. Psychiatrist Dr Cliff Arnall, formally of Cardiff University, defined the day as a time when people suffer from a series of combined depressive effects. Arnall says the date was calculated by using many factors, including: weather conditions, debt level (the difference between debt accumulated and our ability to pay), time since Christmas, time since failing our new year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and feeling of a need to take action. Aidan Bucknall, Professional Lead for Psychological Therapies at Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMW), which provides mental health and substance misuse services in Salford, offers practical advice on how to overcome recession depression ahead of the year’s most gloomy day… Aidan says: “Many of the effects of the recession and January blues – money problems, unemployment and dark winter nights – are well known triggers for mental health problems like depression, anxiety and stress. Understanding theses triggers can help us to manage them and the unhealthy behaviours associated with them – such as drinking and hibernating.” So what can we do to combat the New Year blues? Aidan adds: “The current economic climate is creating new and difficult challenges for many people, so it is even more important now to be active in managing our mental well-being. “We can’t hope to stay happy all the time, but the way we approach our lives can make a big difference to our overall sense of contentment and how often we feel happy. Of course external events also have a big impact, but the more active we are at maintaining our mental well-being, the better we cope with adverse external events.” Why do some people cope better with maintaining good mental wellbeing than others? “You could say that good mental well-being is a form of fitness. And the fitter we are, the better we are able to resist or recover from illness. Like with our physical health, no doctor can make us physically fit – that is something we have to do for ourselves through the choices we make about our lifestyle. “For example, we all know of people who are physically fit. They got that way by taking exercise, managing their diet, making opportunities to rest and relax, and avoiding ‘toxins’ (such as alcohol, cigarettes and street drugs). But even fit people can suffer injury or illness, and at these times seeking medical help can be the right thing to do. But being fit does help us resist or recover from illness. “And so it is with mental well-being. There are external factors such as problems in childhood development or major negative life events which can contribute to poor mental well-being. But the work we do to stay mentally ‘fit’ improves our chances of long-term contentment and happiness.” £400 million will be used to extend talking therapies to tackle the impacts of the recession on mental health. What is it? “One of the government’s commitments in its mental health strategy, No health without mental health, is a four year action plan to expand the Improved Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme to treat anxiety disorders or depression. The programme will also be targeted at three new groups of people: children and young people, people with long-term conditions and people with severe mental illnesses. “As part of the children and young people’s IAPT programme, universities and teaching providers were asked to link up with local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to form partnerships that will transform services for children and young people. “Salford Cognitive Therapy Training Centre at GMW took the lead in the bid and, in October 2011, was awarded over £2.7 million by the Department of Health to become one of only three new learning collaboratives in the country to deliver innovative training to therapists and clinical leaders. “The collaborative covers North Pennine, South Pennine, Manchester & Salford, Derby and Barnsley and will improve the availability of psychological or “talking” therapies for children and young people with mental health problems. “The therapy will focus on children from three to eight years with behavioural problems and Conduct Disorder, and children and teenagers from eight to 18 years with depression and/or anxiety disorders. “The full programme will offer personalised support to 3.2 million people across the country, making available a choice of psychological therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), counselling for depression, and Interpersonal Psychotherapy and ensuring access for anyone who needs it.” Final thoughts? “Just as there are many forces working to sustain the economic recovery we can help to sustain or improve our mental wellbeing by using different techniques to keep mentally fit. Good mental wellbeing isn’t something you have, but something you do and when you take care of your mental health you are much more likely to be happy and get the most from life.” If you are feeling stressed because of job insecurity, redundancy, debt or other problems, don’t wait for things to get really bad before you seek help. Visit NHS Choices for help and advice about accessing NHS services or call NHS Direct on 0845 4647 for health advice and reassurance, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition to GMW’s services, there are many services out there to help if you feel the blues are becoming too much. The Samaritans operate a service that is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Call 08457 90 90 90. If you prefer to write down how you are feeling, or if you are worried you might be overhead talking on the phone, you can email them at jo@samaritans.org. Childline runs a free helpline for children and young people in the UK. The call is free and the number will not show up on your phone bill. Call 0800 1111. Source: Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. Becoming a member of SalfordOnline only takes a minute, just hit the red Join Us button at the top right hand side of the page to create your Personal account. Got a news story? Need help with publicity for an event in Salford? Send it to newsdesk@salfordonline.com or call the SalfordOnline newsdesk on 0161 789 5377. |
