Following the Christmas festivities and New Year celebrations, the third Monday in January (this year on January 17, 2022), has been referred to by some as the so-called 'Blue Monday'.  

The tag combines a number of factors including post-Christmas celebrations accompanied by the long, cold, dark nights of winter.    

First referenced in a press release for a travel company in 2005, (eager to calculate when people tend to book their holidays), psychologist Dr Cliff Arnall, was commissioned to create a 'formula' to deliver the calculation.

Arnall, who had at that time been a tutor at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, a Further Education Centre attached to Cardiff University, drew on a variety of negative aspects, duly naming the third Monday in January as the 'most depressing' day of the year. 

Following the surfacing of the formula which saw Arnall's colleague at the time, Dr Dean Burnett state "there is no such thing as 24 hour depression", Arnall apologised for linking the day with any depressive capacity, turning his attention to us all maintaining good levels of mental health and taking all necessary actions to do so.

The Reality of Mental Illness in Wales

In June and July 2020, the findings of an initial study led by Professor Robert Snowden and Swansea University's Professor Nicola Gray, which examined the impact of Covid-19 on the Welsh population, revealed around half of the 13,000 participants who took part in the research reported clinically significant psychological distress, with about 20 percent saying they were suffering severe effects.

As part of research released by the Welsh Government in May 2021, the Welsh NHS spent £810 million on mental health issues in 2019/20, accounting for 11.1 percent of the total NHS spend.

Help is at Hand

If you are struggling with your mental health this January, there are organisations who can help - 

If you value The National's journalism, help grow our team of reporters by becoming a subscriber.