The importance of knowing how to manage anxiety during the Christmas season

The days of Christmas are associated with a greater need to know how to manage anxiety.

Anxiety is a phenomenon as natural and human as any of the emotions that we usually consider "positive" or pleasant. After all, in many contexts it is useful to adapt to the circumstances around us, and that is why the vast majority of people experience it relatively often in our daily lives.

However, it is true that in certain contexts we can involuntarily "learn" to manage anxiety in a problematic way, which in turn exposes us to more situations that produce a high level of anxiety. Ultimately, all feelings and emotions are linked to how we relate to our environment and to others and are prone to shape psychological problems; and in this, anxiety is no exception.

This is why some people feel particularly bad during the Christmas season because of anxietyThis is a time of the year in which many things change, and among them, the type of situations before which we must prepare ourselves.

Why can more anxiety problems arise at Christmas?

These are some of the aspects of Christmas that can favor the appearance of anxiety problems.

1. Bereavement and depressive-type symptoms associated with anxiety.

Among families among whom Christmas is a significant event, there is a greater likelihood that these dates act as a catalyst for emotional distress due to the loss of loved ones (with whom these kinds of celebrations used to be shared). (with whom this kind of celebrations used to be shared). In other words, mourning for the death or emigration of a family member becomes more intense at Christmas.

In this sense, it should not be forgotten that anxiety and low mood, although they seem to work through opposite logics, overlap very often, and even reinforce each other: it is not in vain that a large percentage of patients that psychologists see present an anxious-depressive condition. In general, emotional distress calls for other forms of emotional distress, so that if a person does not feel comfortable with his or her life and feels sad, it is likely that sooner rather than later he or she will notice that his or her day-to-day life is getting the better of him or her, and anxiety will appear.

2. The perception of end of cycle and temporary bottleneck.

Christmas is not experienced as an event disconnected from everything that surrounds it, and in this sense it is worth remembering that for many people, Christmas goes hand in hand with the concept of "end of the year", goes hand in hand with the concept of "New Year's Eve".There are only a few days difference between one celebration and the other.

That is why there are not few who understand that Christmas is the end of a life cycle, and are pushed to make an assessment of this period, the last 12 months. In these circumstances it is easy for uncomfortable thoughts, feelings of guilt and even self-esteem problems to appear for not having been able to do everything they wanted.

This leads some people to try to do as much as possible in the days and weeks leading up to Christmas, with the resulting psychological wear and tear.with the resulting psychological toll. Moreover, if they manage to achieve certain goals in this period, they do not experience it as an achievement but rather as an avoidance of an unpleasant feeling.

3. The pressure to buy and the need to make the accounts balance.

Christmas is, also, a time linked to its facet as a consumer phenomenon.. On the one hand, there is the pressure to buy gifts, spend money on fancy dinners, or even travel; on the other, the need not to have financial problems. It is not easy to find a balance in the face of this, which makes us more vulnerable to anxiety problems.

4. Family tensions are stoked

Not everyone has a family free of tension and conflict.. For that reason, the familiar meetings can become a source of anxiety; even if the discussions do not break out the fear that they come to take place can be there.