I’m sitting here in my man cave, surrounded by razor blades and strychnine for this, the third Monday of the new year, Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year. According to the internet, so it must be true, this is the calculation:
[W + (D-d)] x TQ M x NA
In this equation there are seven variables: (W) weather, (D) debt, (d) monthly salary, (T) time since Christmas, (Q) time since failed quit attempt, (M) low motivational levels and (NA) the need to take action.
I can’t say that I understand this formula which was devised for the now defunct travel company Sky Travel by Dr Cliff Arnall (who he? – ed). But then, neither can anyone else, because neuroscientist Dean Burnett described thus: “It is unscientific. It is pseudoscientific. It is uber-pseudoscientific.” If you’re wondering what these long words mean, the technical definition is bollocks. He goes on:”The equation itself is farcical. Even if most of these weren’t nonsensical measurements (how do you determine the motivation of everyone in the population?), they’re not compatible. How do you quantifiably combine ‘time since Christmas’ with ‘weather’? You can’t.”
I suspect that the myth of Blue Monday is something to do with the entirely real condition of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD as we otherwise know it, which causes symptoms similar to depression including low mood, lethargy and loss of interest in hobbies. SAD is believed to affect around two million people but I’ll bet many more of us feel a little lower in terms of mood at this time of year.
However, from where I am sitting, today is anything but a depressing day. Here in South Gloucestershire, the sky is a gorgeous blue, with barely a cloud in the sky, and while I know my mood is usually chemically (and legally) enhanced by prescription drugs, this feels anything like Blue Monday.
I’d say that the Blue Monday formula is closely associated with various forms of quackery, something like Astrology which is evidence free gobbledegook. It’s absolute nonsense, but some people swear by it.
No. Today isn’t the most depressing day of the year. There are a myriad of reasons by people might be depressed today – I’d hazard a guess that clinical depression might just be a reason some people are depressed today – but just because the Daily Star says it’s Blue Monday doesn’t necessarily mean it is. Because it isn’t. Fact.
