How to deal with holiday stressLast minute shopping. Cooking. Cleaning. Long lost relatives you wish would stay lost. While the holidays are a season of joy and happiness, they can also be stressful. Social worker Constantina Boudouvas can provide tips on how to reduce holiday stress. Boudouvas is director of social work at The Menninger Clinic and a behavior therapist. "Maintaining an exercise routine, eating well, maintaining spiritual practice, relaxing in a bath and creating some alone time all can do wonders in helping us stay emotionally grounded during stressful times," says Boudouvas. She adds that helping others less fortunate can help people deal with stress and put holiday activities and preparations into perspective.
Is it the holiday blues or something more serious?For many, the holiday season is a fun time of gift giving, music and family togetherness " but it can be a sad and lonely time for others. "Many people at the holidays feel like they should be happy and are aware of all that's missing, especially those who feel alone," says Dr. Jon Allen, senior staff psychologist at The Menninger Clinic. Allen can talk about steps people can take to keep the "holiday blues" in check. He can also talk about how to tell the difference between the holidays blues and depression, and when to seek professional help. Allen is a professor of psychiatry in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine. He is an expert in depression, and will be publishing a book on depression later this year, called, Coping with Depression.
Binge drinking and the holidays don't mixSchool's out. Finals are over. For many college students, that means the party season has just begun. And many parties involve drinking large quantities of alcohol. Two-thirds of binge drinkers report reckless behavior such as unprotected sex, unplanned sex or driving while drunk. Binge drinking may also be a cover up for other hidden issues. What can parents do? Dr. April Stein can talk about the problem of binge drinking in young adults, and how parents can help their college-aged children deal with alcohol responsibly. Stein is a psychologist and director of the Compas Program for Young Adults at The Menninger Clinic. She is also an assistant professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine.
When the "perfect holiday" isn't so perfect.If Martha Stewart can go to jail, host two television shows and still find time to make snowflake ornaments in time for the holidays, why can't you create the perfect holiday for your family? Successful professionals often find themselves in an impossible quest for the "perfect holiday." For some, the pressure for perfection can be too much. "I think many professionals struggle with the holidays because they are not doing well and are reflecting on how poorly they are coping," says John O'Neill, a social worker and director of the Professionals in Crisis Program at The Menninger Clinic. "They tend to mask how they are doing and try to make it through them. I can only imagine the amount of energy this must take. Many of them hold it together, appear fine and then crash after. This is why we start to see an increase in psychiatric hospital admissions in January."
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