Most Depressing Day Of The Year

Today has been declared the most depressing day of the year. This year, make it your call.

The superstitious have long worried about courting bad luck on Friday the 13th and stayed “beware the Ides of March.” But for the past couple of years there has been another day to mark in black on the calendar: The most depressing day of the year.

In 2005, a psychologist named Cliff Arnall (who was, at the time, a part-time lecturer at the University of Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning in Wales), declared that he had devised a formula to calculate the worst day. That year, it was Monday, Jan. 24; last year, Monday, Jan. 23. So watch out, because today may well be 2007’s most miserable day.

Arnall’s so-called formula looks like this: [W + (D-d)] x TQM x NA.

All of the letters and symbols apparently represent a sort of mathematical code to track the following:
W: How bad the weather is at this time of year.
D: Amount of debt accumulated over the holidays minus how much is paid off.
T: The time since the holidays.
Q: Amount of time passed since New Year’s resolutions have gone south.
M: Our general motivation levels.
NA: The need to take action.

Some of the factors that affect our mood are:

The weather*and in particular, the lack of daylight*is an issue in January and February, especially in the northern latitudes. And that’s the primary cause of seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Another universal dilemma around this time of year is debt.. “Buyer’s remorse is a core part of the post-holiday blues,” acknowledges Ellen McGrath, Ph.D., president and founder of Bridge Coaching Institute in New York City. “Love is defined as buying a great gift, but when the bills come due in January it can lead to depression.”

Late January is also time to confront reality, say psychologists. Difficult decisions about jobs, family and relationships are often put off until after the holidays. So while we may wake up feeling very positive on Jan. 1, life may look a lot less shiny a few weeks later.

While Arnall’s equation has received its fair share of criticism, most experts agree that if this “day of doom” prediction helps raise awareness about the serious issues of depression and seasonal affective disorder, then, overall that’s a good thing and not harmful. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that almost 18.8 million American adults suffer from depression and nearly six percent of the population is affected by SAD.

Still, plenty of people take offense at such a specific “most depressing day” pronouncement. “It essentially vacates any concept of free will or self-determinism, putting the focus on external events rather than what’s within us,” says Susan C. Vaughn, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University.

So the moral of the story is even if you have maxed out your credit cards, failed at your New Year’s resolutions, and the weather is lousy, not everyone will succumb to depression*especially not all of us on the same day. In fact, some psychologists and life coaches argue that January can be a time of focus and motivation. The frenzy of the holidays is past, and there is time to concentrate on accomplishing new goals.