A lot of people are asking, Why is depression and anxiety difficult? Why is it more prevalent during the holidays? And I and what do we do about it? So I really wanted to explain a couple of things about depression. First of all, the number one indicator of depression during November and December is isolation. If you already or if an individual already feels disconnected, during the month of November, December, and even in January, that feeling of disconnection can grow and be intensified.

As the individual watches family, interacting, or different members are different families outside of themselves interacting, they may feel a sense of missing or a lack of fulfillment, especially if they have lost a loved one. Now, what’s interesting and sad, actually, at the same time is during the holiday season, if and because of what’s going on with the pandemic, we may have lost more family members than we did in the previous years. So grief is more row recent, then it has been in the previous years, we’re more aware of the lack or the absence of a person we have lost during the the last couple of years.

So this season of Christmas may be filled with more anxiety and depression. So even if you are not prone to depression, the holiday season can add to it and more so this year. The other thing that we know is because of the changing of the season, what that means is there’s more dark hours than there are light hours. So when you add that, that that’s seasonal depression, when you add that, to coming through COVID, we may see depression at higher rates. And truly we are the research is showing that we’re seeing higher rates of depression. So a feeling of disconnectedness may have already existed, the holiday season is going to exacerbate that. We also know that when people feel disconnected during the holidays, they tend to isolate more, because they don’t feel that they don’t have they don’t have the skills, or the competency. Or they because they feel they’re not connected with community. They don’t want to be embarrassed, which is very normal.

So they’ll have social anxiety, which causes an individual to isolate which exacerbates depression. And isolation is, again, the number one indicator of depression. So these individuals need to spend time with friends and family, calling someone else calling a friend or family. 

Warning Signs

On big sign to look for is if you notice that someone is isolating and know that they may be doing this more than usual, they need a phone call reach out to them.

It’s as simple as a call. And now with technology, we’re using Zoom calls more and more with family, and it’s amazing!  What a great way to close down the gap. So not just a phone call, it’s so important for depression, that someone sees a friendly face.

There are mirror neurons in your brain. And if you do a video call those mirror neurons and light up in very healthy ways. So a video call is much better than just a regular phone call to help with depression, having the individual on the other end of the call join family activities. So setting up the video call at the table where everyone else might be sitting if someone is far away from you. So if you have a grandparent or you have a family member that is in another state or another country and cannot travel video can be such a powerful answer to fighting off depression during the season.

You’ll notice that individuals that In the past have felt disconnected more may be more prone to ask what is wrong with me. So as they see other family members being happy, or they see the social media where everyone’s sort of happy no one’s having any problems, which is not reality, but because an individual is already prone to depression or may already have reasons to be depressed, this feeling that something is wrong with me, again, propagated by unmet expectations.

So during the holidays, we have more expectations, what my family should look like what my holiday should look like, what my love life should look like, I shouldn’t be alone on another holiday. What’s wrong with me? Why am I still alone? Why am I not dating? Why am I not married? Ah, all of that is exacerbated. So, during the holiday season, it is more normal to feel on for filled and that again leads to exacerbation exhaust is exacerbated. That tends to trigger more depression. it exacerbates the the notice that something isn’t right that the brain notices something is right.

What are the ways to deal with this, again, is reaching out to people, calling a therapist this is a significant time to reach out very important time to reach out to a therapist. Some individuals that are keenly aware of a family member that was lost, a great way to deal with that is to begin a new family tradition. So there are individuals that are lost, there are individuals that you miss, but if you start a new family tradition with your existing family, the foam is the focus becomes the new and kind of moving on and forward with the new and not forgetting the past or forgetting the people of our past. But adding some joy with what we do have. Rather than focusing on who we don’t have. So simple family traditions. I know that I was speaking with a dear pastor friend of mine who said during monopoly, because the family plays games every year, during the holidays. This year, though, she’s going to create a trophy that will be passed on from year to year. Great idea to start a new family tradition. So apparently they they pay play Monopoly like no one’s business like highly competitive, but adding to that the fun of fighting for a trophy. And then getting a trophy is a great example of starting a new family tradition.

ADHD

When it becomes difficult or nearly impossible to concentrate, make sound judgments, or complete tasks – all of which are symptoms of ADHD – the brain’s wave function is out of balance in certain places. Whether the waves are too rapid or too slow, whether there are too many or too few in a given location, they can all induce a variety of symptoms that are very upsetting and bothersome to the individual and those around them.

Neurofeedback research on ADHD in both children and adults is conclusive in demonstrating the treatment’s efficacy. Focus, concentration, emotional stability, and other positive consequences follow when parts of the brain are brought back “online” by Neurofeedback as a safe and, non-medicated method

PEAK PERFORMANCE

Most of us wish we had the ability to perform at the level of an Olympic athlete, a top producer, or a member of the 1%. We aim to be the best we can be and work hard to achieve our goals. The body and the brain pay a price to maintain that level. Stress builds up and has an impact on one’s ability to perform.

Especially when we are under a lot of stress, we want our bodies to respond calmly and efficiently. This is a difficult task for the majority of us. Neurofeedback for performance enhancement brings together clarity, productivity, flexibility, attention, confidence, and more.