New York.- Despite the fact that Christmas is a season of celebration, where harmony and happiness reign, there are many people around the world who do not really enjoy these days like the majority.
In fact, in the United States, there are millions of Hispanics who celebrate Christmas with a strange mixture of emotions, where exhaustion, stress and discouragement sometimes reign.
According to a survey of nearly 2,000 adults conducted a few months ago by the American Academy of Psychiatry, nearly 1 in 3 Hispanics (31%) reported feeling much more stressed at this time.
All of this can lead to a mental health problem called Christmas depression or seasonal depression, a problem that if not addressed on time can have serious consequences.
The depression for Christmas is something that anyone can experience, regardless of their race; however, the issue of depression in general is something that has grown considerably in the last decade in the Hispanic population living in the US.
According to a study conducted by New Mexico State University at Las Cruces, led by Dr. Jagdish Khubchandani, who is a professor of public health sciences at that institution, found that between 2010 and 2020, the suicide rate among Hispanic adults increased by more than 70%.
As if it were not a minor issue, according to Statista, in 2020 only 10.7% of the Hispanic population in the US decided to seek treatment or counseling for mental health.
Roger Rivera, a medical nurse specializing in psychology matters, spoke about how this community can overcome the Christmas depression and, above all, the importance of paying due attention to it so that it does not continue to grow.
Why do you get depressed for Christmas?
According to Rivera, this season a series of factors are combined.
First, depression can be something genetically acquired and that can be “asleep” for years until something comes along that wakes you up.
In the same way, the weather influences. It starts to get dark earlier and it gets colder, which can encourage individuals to start to drop a bit.
Also, Christmas is a season full of happiness and sharing. If you don’t feel happy, as the specialist explains, the production of neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine and vitamin D, go down and therefore our mood will not be the best.
To this we must add other factors, such as the economy, which is generally a time when we worry more about this situation, and above all, who is around us.
“We are Hispanic and culturally, we tend to have a happier character and Christmas, culturally, is something we celebrate, full of joy. Being in the US, if we compare it with our place of origin, obviously we will find big differences, since here the celebrations are not the same, we are much more focused on working and therefore, we live with more stress”, affirmed Rivera.
Who is more prone to Christmas depression?
In his experience, the mental health specialist considers that those who usually develop this disorder are those older people who are lonelier, specifically, those Hispanics who migrated to the US to seek a better life, both for themselves and for themselves. for their families, or that they left their places of origin because of what was happening there.
