We see a lot of news articles cropping up warning about stress during holidays.
Personally, we think a lot of it is motivated by some marketer’s bright idea, no doubt under the guidance of an “expert” psychologist or psychiatrist, about how to drum up business for the mental health industry.
Of course, you know what an “expert” is? An “ex” is a has-been; and a “spurt” is a drip under pressure.
Sometimes the advice given is just common sense; but other times the advice is dangerous. Beware, judgment may be in short supply when under a lot of stress.
One source wants us to “seek help from a healthcare professional.” Naturally; the marketer in action.
One psychologist recommends you seek help from the American Psychological Association. Naturally.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has a full-color brochure on how to handle holiday stress. They recommend, surprise, that you call the Missouri Department of Mental Health’s Crisis Intervention line.
Oh, and then there’s all the “research” about holiday stress. The Mayo Clinic thinks women tend to get more stressed during the holiday season. We’re pretty sure that a comprehensive search will find that some scientist, somewhere has reached pretty much any conclusion you care to name about this condition.
We wrote a whole blog previously about stress, you can review it here.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) has several entries for a fraudulent diagnosis of stress as a mental illness, for which you can be prescribed a harmful and addictive psychoactive drug:
– Acute stress disorder
– Unspecified trauma- and stressor-related disorder
– Other specified trauma- and stressor-related disorder
– Posttraumatic stress disorder
We’re pretty sure you already know our opinion about the DSM. With the DSM, psychiatry has taken countless aspects of human behavior and reclassified them as a “mental illness” simply by adding the term “disorder” onto them.
There are even articles about “stress-free recipes for the holidays”.
Our advice? Read what we have to say about stress, pass this along to your family, friends and associates, let us know what you think about this, and then have a happy, safe, stress-free holiday!
