Call It E-Therapy: Sites Offer Solid Advice on the Seasonal Blues

“It’s the mo-o-ost wonderful time of the year” Are you having fun yet?

Along with all the pressures to finish up year-end business, travel, make New Year’s resolutions and reconnect with family, we’re also supposed to have fun! Be joyful!

Well, I don’t know about you, but when the stress in my life increases, I’m not too joyful to be around. When I feel overwhelmed, I retreat. So in the midst of the holiday gatherings, I started a New Year’s resolution to manage stress and beat the holiday blues. I escaped from the crowds of demanding family members and wild party-goers, and turned to the Web. Wow, was I impressed. And since I was gathering all of this information in the privacy of my home office, no one had to know I could use a little assistance to enjoy all the holiday togetherness!

If any of this sounds familiar, you might want to read “Holiday Blues--When the ‘fa la la la las’ fizzle.” Located on the Mayo Health Clinic Web site at https://www.mayohealth.org/mayo/9511//htm/wk9holbl.htm, this article offers several stress-reducing strategies: Be realistic and accept family members as they are; don’t burden yourself with an excessive list of expectations that only complicate the holidays; set a budget, and don’t spend more than you can afford; don’t feel pressured to eat or drink more than you’re accustomed to just because it’s a special occasion.

But let’s get a handle on the overall issue of the blues and depression. This year, there were more than 10 million hits on the National Institute Mental Health’s Web site from people seeking information about depression. Does being depressed during the holidays mean you have a medical disorder? What if your depression does feel more serious that just the holiday blues?

According to the institute, (https://www.nimh.nih.gov), depression affects an estimated 17 million to 19 million U.S. adults each year, about a third of whom actually seek treatment. About four in 10 teenagers get “seriously depressed” each year. Women experience depression at roughly twice the rate of men. And among people age 65 or older, as many as three in 10 “suffer from clinical depression,” according to the institute.

Part of the National Institutes of Health, NIMH has sponsored Depression / Awareness, Recognition, and Treatment (D / ART), a program to educate the public on the difference between the blues and depression and where to go for help. At the institute’s Web site, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/dart/index.htm., you can scan the list on the left-hand side of the index page, and click on such topics as effective treatments and bipolar disorder.

The D / ART site offers information tailored to the specific issues affecting older adults, women and students. In addition to symptoms and statistics, the section on women and depression explains how reproductive events can affect mood. The section for students, titled “Let’s Talk About Depression,” offers straight talk in a reassuring tone. The section for older adults notes that depression is not a “normal part of aging” and that nearly 80% of people with clinical depression can be successfully treated.

Under the heading “General Facts About Depression,” there is a list of symptoms. If you have five or more symptoms for two weeks or longer, or your symptoms “are severe enough to interfere with normal functioning,” the institute suggests that you see a health or mental health professional. The information at https://www.nimh.nih.gov/dart/dep_fact is well-written and informative. You can order free brochures with similar information at https://www.nimh.nih.gov/dart/order.htm.

The NIMH site also offers information about mental illness in America, an order form for 12 Spanish-language publications (https://www.nimh.nih.gov/publist/pubordsp.htm), examples of brain scans taken before and after treatment for depression (https://www.nimh.nih.gov/hotsci/scandep.htm), and questions and answers about St. John’s wort, an herb that some studies have shown is effective treatment for depression (https://nimh.nih.gov/publicat/stjohnqa.htm).

Another good source is the Mental Health Net (https://www.cmhc.com), an information service run by Dr. John Grohol, psychologist and author of “The Insider’s Guide to Mental Health Resources Online.” Its depression page is well-structured to bring immediate relief. As you walk through the narrative, you are assured that you are not alone (one in five Americans will experience some form of depression in their lifetimes), and you are not to blame (depression is not a character flaw, but most likely a disorder with both biological and psychological components).

The site also provides information on symptoms to look for before seeking professional help, medication and psychotherapy options, reviews and ratings of hundreds of other mental health Web sites, and a list of online support groups. There is also a “chat calendar,” a listing of chat groups on mental health topics.

These sites--just a sampling of the hundreds of sites devoted to mental health topics--provide practical advice that can help us to improve our coping skills and to decide whether we should seek professional help.

As the new year nears, I hope you’ll join me in resolving to take advantage of the great mental and general health resources on the Internet so we can all feel better in 1999.

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Marla Bolotsky is managing editor and director of online information for the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. She welcomes suggestions of Web sites for review and can be reached at marla.bolotsky@latimes.com.

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Your Health Online runs every other Monday in Health.