Help at hand for those who find Christmas depressing

WHILE many look forward to Christmas Day as a time for family and festivity, for some who have no family or are in a financial bind, it can be a depressing time.

South African Depression and Anxiety Group’s (Sadag) counsellors work all-year long, including Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, and will be available to help those in despair.

Sadag director Zane Wilson said while Christmas was associated with family and relaxation, it was also a time when people get depressed.

“Many people are not in a festive mood, or do not feel like there’s much to celebrate. But still they put themselves under pressure to do what is ‘expected’,” he said.

Wilson said, for some, the festive season brought acute emotional pain and distress and that the silly season was becoming a dreaded season.

“The time of year when there is too little time, too much to do, too much money to be spent and not nearly enough coming in. The time of year when we should be winding down but are really being wound up.

“For the many South Africans who have experienced a loss, have no family, are unemployed, or who suffer from a psychiatric condition, the festive season can be a time of intense loneliness, financial worry, and stress,” Wilson said.

Shanne, a senior counsellor who has worked the Christmas shift for more than 20 years, said this time of year stirred up a lot of emotions for people.

The feelings of distress can be triggered by a host of things like a first Christmas without a loved one, a first Christmas since a divorce, a first holiday season for a student away from home and a first in such an uncertain economic climate.

Over the years, Sadag’s crisis line has taken a variety of heartbreaking calls – from an abused woman trying to escape a drunk husband with her small children to a caller gassing himself in a car because he could not face another year alone and an elderly man at a train station who just wanted someone to talk to as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Sadag has a multicultural, multilingual group of volunteers who give up their time on Christmas and New Year to spend answering the lines and offering support and services to anyone who needs them.

The lines are toll-free, which means calls from a landline won’t cost a cent.

For those people needing assistance who only have a cellphone, they can SMS on 31393.

● Sadag’s toll-free Suicide Crisis Lines 0800-567-567 are open from 8am until 8pm. The emergency line 080012-13-14 is open 24 hours. —