The myth of Blue Monday and its relationship to the psychology of winter

The third Monday of January has earned the name ‘ ’ and is viewed by many as the most melancholy day of the year. For some years there has been a theory around the third Monday of January, which argues that this is the worst day of the year. CORVERSE It is said that on this day, people are overwhelmed by negative emotions more than any other day. And that’s because many are the ones who realize that they’ve fallen out of the program and their goals, so they’re depressed. Although the scientific community questions its existence as a real phenomenon, Blue Monday’s idea remains widespread and has gained impressive publicity. But why is this day considered to cause bad feelings? CORVERSE The concept of Blue Monday emerged in 2005, when psychologist Cliff Arnall published a mathematical equation that supposedly showed how the combination of parameters such as weather, economic situation, disappointments from the goals of the year and the feeling of fatigue after the celebrations led to the greatest melancholy of the year. However, this study was later contested, as it was based on dubious assumptions and lacked sufficient scientific documentation. Despite doubts surrounding the creation of this concept, Blue Monday highlights something important: the connection of human psychism to winter conditions and the influence seasonal change may have on us. The sun sets earlier, the cold and rains dominate, while the holidays and the joy of celebrations have passed, leaving a vacuum. All of this is combined with the sense of debt brought about by the new goals of the year, causing anxiety and frustration. The mathematical equation Blue Monday’s theory arises from a mathematical equation, [W+(D-d] )xTQ/MxNA, born in the mind of academic Dr. Cliff Arnall, which combines factors such as weather (W), debts (D), monthly salary (d), time spent since Christmas holidays (T), low level of mobilisation (M) etc. Blue Monday has not been scientifically proven and remains simply a theory. However, it could become a global day of recognition and treatment of negative factors affecting mental health. The term Blue Monday was first devised in 2004 by Cliff Arnall, a psychologist and lifecoach, when approached by the British travel company Sky Travel to find a formula to determine the most depressing day of the year. Blue Monday then became the focus of a Sky Travel advertising campaign designed to encourage holiday reservations that, as the company said, “will relieve a little of Blue Monday’s misery.” However, the way Arnall came to this conclusion has been rejected by the scientific and academic community. “The reduced mental mood of winter is a normal response to Christmas holidays and the end of celebrations. But the pathology of such normal emotions in some form of ‘acute depression’, such as Blue Monday, is wrong,” said CraigJackson, a professor in health psychology at Birmingham City University in England. “There is no reliable research evidence that Blue Monday is more depressing than any other day or even the most depressing day of the year,” he added. What evidence shows Public health indicators, such as mortality, absence due to illness, psychiatric morbidity, even death estimates or suicide attempts show no increase on the third Monday of January of each year or about those days compared to other January days, Jackson said. “The only way this date can be considered more depressing than others is because the great media tell people that ‘now it is Blue Monday’ and so it can simply cause a phenomenon of self-fulfilling prophecy. People need to know that this is not a scientific fact,” Jackson said. Blue Monday, then, should be considered nothing more than a media advertising and enlargement stunt, Jackson said. Either way, Blue Monday remains a reminder to pay attention to our own mental health and recognise that psychological challenges are something normal and expected, especially at this time of year. It is an opportunity to reassess our needs and find ways to address the challenges of everyday life with more understanding and self-care.