The Scariest Day of the Week: Sunday —Because Monday is Coming. How to Combat The Sunday Blues.

I think I have the Sunday Blues or Scaries... What is it?
The Sunday Blues is a phenomenon where individuals feel downcast, irritable, dreadful and general unhappiness about the upcoming work week. The weekend never feels long enough and when Sunday rolls around, most people start thinking “oh my gosh, I can’t believe tomorrow is already Monday and I have to do it all over again”. These thoughts and emotions are what we causally call “Sunday Blues”.
​
Sunday blues is not a diagnosable condition in and of itself but this doesn’t mean that this isn’t a very real thing that people experience; just because this isn’t its own disorder should not discredit the validity of the people who say they struggle with it. Symptoms and feelings that are consistent with Sunday blues can be attributed to other diagnosable disorders, such as an “adjustment disorder” and that comes with either “anxious, depressed, or mixed anxious and depressed” mood.

An Adjustment Disorder is something that we diagnose an individual with when they have experienced any major change in the last 6 months, but doesn’t meet the full criteria for depression or anxiety. For example, I think we can all relate to being anxious and nervous before starting a new job; a new job is certainly an adjustment and can cause feelings of anxiety. Another example could be losing your job, one might feel depression-like symptoms after such an event, but not truly be depressed. These situations are classically “adjustment disorder” worthy. 
​
    So all of that said, what about the people who have been in their jobs for more than 6 months but still have these feelings?

Absolutely valid. I would want to look at the other things going on in that individual’s life, is their family member ill, did they just get a new dog, is their marriage going through a rough patch? In each of those examples, there are different reasons and motivations for a person to not want to go to work, like being emotionally exhausted from caring for someone or trying to fix your marriage, or maybe they just love their new puppy so much they can’t bear to leave them home alone. Whatever the reason may be, my point is that there may be additional factors that contribute to Sunday Blues and it could be considered an Adjustment Disorder. 
​
How many people experience this? I feel a bit alone in this.

Roughly 80% of Americans say they have experienced Sunday Blues at some point in their life, but a staggering 90% of those people are either Gen Z or a millennial, according to a LinkedIn survey.

How do I overcome this? It's really getting in my way.

If this sounds like something you’ve experienced, evaluate your self care. Self care is anything you do for yourself that contributes to you feeling better. It might be easier to think of ourselves as though we have a tank, and in this tank is all of the energy we have to deal with life and the stresses that come with it. Throughout each day we experience things that drain our tank; if we don’t do things to counteract that draining, the tank will quickly become depleted and you’re left feeling irritable, overwhelmed, exhausted, just not in a good mood, and like you can’t handle anything else. So self-care is anything that helps fill that tank back up, and that looks different for everyone! Self-care could be getting a workout in, meditating, eating right, taking a bath with all the bubbles and bath salts, praying, reading a book, etc. It’s the epitome of “treat yourself”, but it doesn’t require all the money.

 When people properly and frequently engage in self-care, they are much less likely to report experiencing the negative feelings that I just mentioned and they feel like their stress has been reduced (even if the stressful things haven’t gone away). In a national survey, 64% of Americans actually reported self care as helping them enhance self-confidence, 67% said it helped them increase productivity, and 71% reported increased happiness. From a physical health perspective, self-care also reduces heart disease, stroke and cancer. So, if you get one big takeaway from this, let it be to engage in self-care!

Another way to help the Sunday Blues go away is cognitive reframing, and this is a clinical way of saying “view it from an alternative perception”. Kind of like “view the cup as half full and as not half empty”. Now obviously there's a lot more that goes into cognitive reframing than just positive thinking, and a mental health professional can really help with this. But if you’re wanting to tackle this on your own, try to change the way you think about Sundays. Maybe make Sunday’s your day, make it to where it’s something you look forward to all week: make plans with friends, binge that show you’ve been putting off, spend time with family, do whatever you need so that you can look forward to it. 

If that still doesn’t do it for you, I encourage you to take some time and reflect on what you’re actually on edge about. Ask yourself, “why am I feeling this way? What am I dreading about Monday/this week?” If you can narrow it down, you can start to make a plan for how you want to handle that situation. Feeling equipped to handle the week, and not just the tasks that you’re required to complete at work or school, can really help reduce, or even almost eliminate, the anxiety you might feel about it.
If all else fails, seek the care of a mental health professional. Everyone goes through stages in life where it just gets hard to manage on your own, and there doesn’t need to be any shame in that. If you start to think that you could be in that season of life, reach out for help. 

Still need help? Contact us on our home page at 210-201-4578

(2021, January 14). Vagaro survey finds three-quarters of Americans believe Self-Care activities provide stress relief. Vargo. https://www.vagaro.com/news/press-release/survey-finds-three-quarters-of-americans-believe-self-care-activities-provide-stress-relief 

Kendra Smith, NCC, LPC Associate

Kendra see's clients in person and virtual in San Antonio TX. Kendra enjoys her dogs and marvel comics. She's supervised by Elizabeth Oldham, LPC-S