Just another manic Monday
Blue Monday might be a myth, but it’s a conversation starter — let’s talk about mental health.
25th January 2020
You may have read recently that January’s third Monday is the most depressing day of the year.
The combination of the gloomy weather, the loneliness after the friends and family that cam to visit all return home, post-holiday debt with two weeks to payday, disappointment from not keeping new year’s resolutions, the dissatisfaction about going back to work and general doom and gloom are all cited as reasons for a negative outlook.
But, according the the Mental Health Foundation, blue Monday is a myth, a cynical PR stunt originally dreamed up by the travel industry to sell holidays. Since then it has become a rather tedious yearly PR event, often designed to promote things that are vaguely linked to improving our wellbeing, more often than not with a complete lack of evidence. No actual scientific studies have ever backed up any claims about Blue Monday.
Having said all that, it does still give us a good opportunity to bring up the topic of mental health and depression. It’s not the usual, light-hearted subject of a Patently blog, but every now and then we chose to use this platform to discuss more serious subjects.
Just by talking about it we can help shine a light on mental health, bring it out of the dark and give people the support they deserve. It’s been a long time coming, a report of the Royal Commission on the law relating to mental illness and mental deficiency in 1957 found:
“Most people are coming to regard mental illness and disability in much the same way as physical illness and disability”
Anti-stigma campaigns and the growing profile of mental health issues in recent years appear to have gone some way to changing views and dispelling misconceptions about mental illness.
But with nine in ten people with mental health problems still experiencing stigma and discrimination, over sixty years after the Royal Commission’s optimistic assessment, there may still be some way to go in changing public attitudes.
We aren’t experts in the field, and can’t provide much useful advice, except to say: if you’re feeling down — talk to someone. There are many organisations and charities that do have expert listeners and are always happy to help.
Whatever you’re going through, a Samaritan will face it with you. Their phones are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Call 116 123 FREE anytime.
It’s stereotype, but there is a lot of truth to it, mem tend to keep things bottled up. So fellas, if you prefer to speak to a fellow man about your problems, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is leading a movement against suicide. Every week 125 people in the UK take their own lives.
There are reasons to be optimistic though; if the current increasing trend in patenting activity in the area of CPC class G01N2800/304 ‘Detection or diagnosis of depression’ is anything to go by, the treatment is getting better all the time.
If you want to talk contact us; don’t suffer in silence, your voice matters…
