I decided to do a little take off on the classic Andy Williams song “The Happiest Time of the Year.” Did you know there are more suicides in December than any other month in the year? Actually, that is not true. Suicides peak in the Spring. It is a myth held by many people that suicides peak at Christmas time.
One major study of suicides done Internationally found that suicide risk was highest on Mondays and increased on New Year’s day in most countries. However, the risk of suicide on weekends and Christmas varied by country and territory. This study stated that:
“Public holidays seem to provide a protective association with suicidal events, however, several studies have reported an increase in risk in the immediately following days.812 However, a few other studies reported no strong linkage between suicide and general holidays.”1314
“The broken-promise effect theory has been widely adapted to explain short term temporal variations in suicide. It states that individuals may postpone committing suicide due to the hope of a “new beginning” when the cycle ends (e.g., weekends and the end of the year),810 while people may be prone to suicidal reactions when they encounter a sense of hopelessness from a new cycle” (eg, Monday and New Year). —- Association of Holidays and the Day of the Week with Suicide Risk. A Multicountry Study. BMJ 2024; 387 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-077262 (Published 23 October 2024)
This is probably much more technical than you wanted to think about today. Perhaps my song will cheer you up. Grab a cup of eggnog, dump some rum in it, put on your favorite Christmas carols and be lulled to sleep while humming my song.
IT’s the Most Stressful Time of the Year.
It’s the most Stressful time of the year
With the kids out of school
Everyone expecting you to be of good cheer
It’s the most stressful time of the year
It’s the worst season of all
With fake holiday greetings
So called friends come to call
Relatives you can’t stand
It’s the worst season of all
There’ll be Christmas parties for finding gifts
Artery clogging Junk foods for getting obese on
Than slogging out to shovel the snow
There’ll be old family stories
And boring tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago
It’s the most stressful time of the year
There’ll be much flues and colds
And phones will be chiming
When loved ones get sick
Just to tell you they’re not coming
It’s the most stressful time of the year
There’ll be parties for pay for
Crowds to fight through
Numerous debts will be accrued
With bank accounts depleted
There’ll be worries about spending
Endless pleas for donations
And advertising never ending
It’s the most stressful time of the year
There’ll be much grousing and moaning
For who to buy presents
And how much to spend
For gifts to throw in their garbage bin
It’s the most stressful time
Yes the most stressful l time
Oh the most stressful time
Of the whole fucking year
My Apologies to those of you who love Christmas
Aging Capriciously 