With the end of the holidays the return to work arrives, and it is not always possible to cope positively with abandoning the summer pleasures, some people take the return to the routine frankly badly, this may affect them when they return to work This discomfort is called post-holiday depression , but there is no need to be alarmed. Psychologists from El Prado explain what it is and how to face it in order to cope with it in the healthiest way possible.
Elisa García , an expert and psychologist from El Prado Psychologists, relates that “post-holiday depression is part of an adaptive disorder , it is not a clinical disorder as such, it is true that it has physical and mental symptoms on some occasions, but it only happens when the going back to work routine becomes stressful, which implies an overexertion and a feeling of high demand ».
Regarding how this type of depression can be produced, the psychologist details that «a return to work that is harder than it should be or a stressful period that is perceived as unusual with a change in schedules and routines that we have become unaccustomed to it on vacation, which implies added pressure, emotional exhaustion and, ultimately, a process of anxiety that involves returning to work ».
“A depression as such supposes clinical criteria that have to do with a temporality, a periodicity, also with an affectation to the other areas of life, post-vacation depression focuses on the work area only , whereas depression encompasses work , personal, conjugal, family and the whole spectrum of different areas and aspects of life, “says Garcia.
The way it manifests itself, the psychologist details, «begins before before returning to work , when you can already begin to feel some anxiety, emotional exhaustion, low motivation to return to work and even fear of being overwhelmed by work tasks when before you had them controlled. However, the symptoms can be very varied depending on each person, but above all what it mainly carries is lack of motivation, anxiety and sadness ».
Regarding how long post-holiday depression syndrome usually lasts, the expert states that ” normal should not exceed fifteen days , more than two weeks may mean that there is probably something that is failing in our work environment that is affecting us and is more beyond post-vacation stress ».
García explains that «it is necessary to distinguish between the difficulty of returning to the routine from other basic things that are not well adjusted, if there were already certain problems prior to the holidays, on the return they could aggravate and pose certain problems for us. Certain symptoms of sadness do not mean having post-holiday depression, such depression is more limited to great apathy, boredom and temporary sadness, which after a certain time, should return to normal, avoid hiding in post-holiday depression and see if there is a background hidden that it is of greater weight ».
How to cope
“If it happens that these symptoms usually occur every year for the same dates, the person himself will know that he may suffer these episodes, the best thing for these people is to prepare a routine , try not to return home on the last day of vacation, organize the schedules of the return to work, have a small contact (such as checking the email of the company), and thus take it more calmly. There are people who the night before returning to work are unable to sleep, such as children with the return to school, for this it is also advisable to start doing sports and take care of food, in short, self-care is the key, get mental that the return will come and we will not avoid it to the maximum until the day before and that later we will fall like a jug of cold water when we return to work »concludes the psychologist Elisa García.
