How to get through the holidays?

I have a really hard time emotionally from the beginning of November until after the new year. My anxiety increases tremendously. I feel irritable and generally sad. I know so much of it stems back to the chaos in my childhood around holidays that fuels my feelings, but that doesn't make it better. Right now I want to hide in my room until groundhog's day. How does you t help you make it through the holidays?

Idk. This will be my first major holiday with my T. Last week T cancelled and I don't know why. I asked her to email me on the day she missed, just to try and maintain my connection. But I'm not sure if my T will be helpful dealing with anxiety from her taking off or dealing with the anxiety caused by the holidays and my family.

This time of year can be especially tough for many of us. Everyone expects you to be hyper-happy and full of joy. I'm not sure its the bad memories that are always the problem or just all the pressure to be happy regardless of your feelings. The more we get bombarded with that pressure, the more we want to isolate. Tne thing that helps me is to contact someone you know that's also going through a rough time. Being there just to listen can be the greatest gift they can get and bring you joy and purpose at the same time.

I feel for you. I could have written this. I dread holidays and spending time with my family. It really triggers my depression. I also have a very hard time from November until January 1st. I have brought this up in my session last week and I will share with you what my T said and how she is helping me. She said to make sure the time you spend at or with your family is time limited. Don't feel bad about having to leave when you need to. If you get overwhelmed, have an escape. Either "go to the bathroom" or have a walk outside. Don't talk about anything you don't want to talk about. If a family member starts talking about something you don't want to then just say "I don't want to talk about that today, so how is the turkey"?

Those were suggestions from T. They do help but nothing will make it any easier. I hope you get through the holidays ok.

I'm with you. These are the worst weeks of my year and sometimes it takes me weeks to recover. One reason is because I use work to help distract me and cope with my difficulties, but my work shuts down for the holidays so that escape is not available to me.

I have found that making daily to do lists helps. Last year I fell into a spaced out trauma zone for days and it was awful. So this year I am going to try actually making a schedule and budgeting time. I do stuff like errands, or housework, and watching movies (next week I plan to watch all the Harry Potters). I try to treat myself gingerly, like a sick kid. When we hurt we deserve our own compassion.

I'm not a fan of the holidays, either. It totally stresses me out. I am seriously hoping and praying that I won't have a meltdown while with the family. Ugh!

Yess,I think there ARE things you can do. After some brutally awful holidays (so bad I even self harmed), I broke the season down and came up with a plan.

What do I want? What is realistic? What is likely? What is unlikely?
What can I do to make it work? What do I have little or no control of?
What would disappoint me? What would be a negative trigger?

So, what can I plan to avoid. What can I take a risk doing? What will I perhaps enjoy?

This helped me navigate my way through the season. I also communicated this to my family which surprisingly was entirely supportive.

My t helps me map out a reasonable plan to keep my stress levels down.

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