Your birthday is coming up soon, so it’s that period of year once more. Even though you’ve been anticipating this day for months, you don’t feel excited at all now that it’s nearly here. Instead, you’re experiencing low mood, anxiety, and perhaps even mild depression. What is happening? Some people have depressive or depressing feelings prior to their birthday as well as on the actual day. The term “birthday depression” or “the birthday blues” refers to it, which is more widespread than you may know.
Birthday Depression
Anyone, regardless of age, can suffer from birthday depression, which is a real and frequent experience. It can be brought on by a number of things, such as the anxiety associated with aging, past trauma, isolation, and the need to plan the ideal celebration. Your feelings are valid. Birthday melancholy or the birthday blues are very typical. If your birthday doesn’t inspire you to have a party, you shouldn’t feel bad about it. Feelings of worry, anger, and social disengagement often accompany birthday depression.
There is no official mental health diagnosis for birthday depression. Instead, it’s a means of expressing how you might feel on your birthday.
The birthday blues are genuine, but not everyone gets them or feels them as strongly as others. No of your age, you may experience these emotions, and there are both internal and external factors that may cause you to feel off around your birthday. Your emotional, mental, and physical health can all be affected by these sensations.
Symptoms
The “birthday blues” or “birthday depression” is a common and true phenomena. It refers to a group of indications and symptoms that some people may encounter around their birthday rather than a professional mental health diagnosis. Typical indications of the birthday blues include:
- Emotions of dread
- Trying not to think about the day
- Being concerned about your age
- Resentful of those who inquire about birthdays
- lacking the desire to celebrate
- Having negative feelings like sadness, worry, or rage around the birthday
- Variations in sleep
- Alterations in appetite
- Attention or concentration issues
- Physical discomfort
- Wishing to stay away from your birthday itself
Clinical Depression VS Birthday Depression
Clinical depression and birthday depression are not the same thing. Birthday depression is a transient mood disorder that causes people to feel depressed, agitated, nervous, and lonely. It is a typical response to the pressures or expectations associated with birthdays, and it usually goes away after the special day.
On the other hand, clinical depression is a severe mental health condition that can strike at any point of the year and doesn’t just have to do with birthdays. It is a protracted feeling of melancholy or a loss of enthusiasm in activities that a person once enjoyed.
Potential Causes of Birthday Depression
Although birthdays are normally a happy occasion, you should already be aware that it’s not unusual to have worry or anxiety on this day that is meant to be a happy celebration. On birthdays, a variety of things, including:
1) Societal Standards
Birthdays serve as a chronological marker. Your birthday can serve as a reminder of your unfinished business. It’s reasonable to think about how far along you are in life as your birthday approaches.
We frequently experience pressure to accomplish significant life goals by a specific age. Birthdays might make you feel like you’re running out of time or, worse, underperforming if you haven’t met your goals or lived up to standards (whether societal or self-imposed).
2) Traumatic Memories
Birthdays and other significant events can evoke a wide range of recollections. While some memories could be joyful, others might be terrible or traumatic. Memories of the past may be disturbing, even if they aren’t extremely traumatic. According to research, psychological anguish is frequently felt on birthdays.
3) Isolation
Birthdays can bring people together, but they can also leave you feeling alone or alone-hearted. Since holidays are frequently spent with loved ones, not having a support network to celebrate with might cause depression.
It makes sense if you find it difficult to be by yourself on your birthday. It’s also typical if you start to recall past birthday festivities as the big day approaches. Anticipating a birthday can make you unhappy if those days are associated with feelings of loneliness.
4) Age-related phobia
Even though aging is a natural part of life, not everyone finds it simple to accept it. According to one survey, 87% of American people are afraid of getting older. If your birthdays make you reflect about age and your own mortality, it makes sense. Every birthday serves as a reminder of how swiftly time goes, especially as we become older. Your well-being and the approaching stages of life may make you feel nervous or paranoid as a result.
5) Stress or pressure
Birthdays may be a major cause of anxiety, especially if you have to organize (or attend!) a party. As a consequence, you can experience pressure to pretend to be excited or host a large party in which you have little interest.
Some people perceive birthdays to be stressful events in general. You can start to hate your birthdays simply because of the pressure of the celebration. These emotions might be particularly strong during milestone birthdays, which frequently involve elaborate celebrations.
How to cope with Birthday Blues
You can choose from a variety of therapies and coping techniques that can either completely cure or at least temporarily lessen your birthday blues.
You might find it helpful to try any of the methods listed below to get rid of your birthday blues and learn more about where they come from.
1) Express your emotions
“We prefer to link birthdays with festivities and pleasant events, but that might not be true for everybody. Allow your feelings to arise. So, give oneself permission to sit down and experience melancholy if you’re not feeling joyful or pleased at this time. You can understand the more profound significance behind it and perhaps find some relief from your melancholy if you give yourself permission to experience your feelings without passing judgment.
2) Use self-awareness and compassion for yourself
It’s crucial to be mindful of your experience and gentle to yourself as you go through it. In order to better comprehend what you could be going through, looking inward to inventory your sensations, thoughts, and where you keep stress in your body. nIf we become more conscious of our emotions, we may treat them with compassion. We can comfort ourselves by assuring ourselves that it’s alright for us to experience a spectrum of emotions because we are only human.
3) Talk to a trusted person about your experience
Tell a friend or member of your family how you really feel. It can be reassuring to learn that someone you know experiences the same thing on their birthday. Perhaps someone else can listen to you and make you feel better. In either case, it can be therapeutic to be vulnerable and forthright about how you’re reacting to somebody who is ready to provide you a safe place to vent.
4) Celebrate in a way that seems right to you
Some people might feel bad for feeling like this when friends or family want to plan celebrations or celebrate their birthday, but the individual’s birthday may just prefer not to attend these kinds of events . It’s your day; do whatever makes you happy, whether that means overcoming your discomfort and celebrating with your loved ones or remaining at home to care for yourself.
5) Plan Healthy Activities for Your Birthday
Others could profit from recognizing that they might feel depressed on their birthday and taking steps to decrease the severity of the depression. It could involve planning for a birthday and engaging in activities that make you feel close to others or to yourself.
Whatever method you use to get ready, give top priority to things that help you feel good and promote better mental, physical, and emotional wellness.
