South Africans face a unique emotional landscape during the festive season, and new research shows why distress peaks around December and January.
The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) has released its Festive Feelings Survey, revealing how people are coping as the festive season approaches.
Senior research associate at the University of Johannesburg, Dr Bronwyn Dworzanowski-Venter, analysed the emotional trends, insights and pressures shared by 2,095 participants from across the country.
Dworzanowski-Venter highlighted a 2020 local mortality study, which confirmed the trend.
“We’ve got some wonderful local researchers who put together this amazing mortality study in 2020. And what they discovered was that our suicide risk in South Africa is highest in the months of December and January. So this is the sunny time in South Africa, we can’t say seasonal affective disorder is to blame. What do we do?” she asked.
She said while much of the global understanding of festive-season stress is based on Northern Hemisphere patterns, where winter and shorter days are blamed for increased suicidality, the same patterns can be seen in South Africa.
“I got quite excited thinking we’re going to be recognised, and to some extent we were, because through what Lee et al were able to find out was that contrary to what happens in the Global North. In South Africa we see suicide risk go up on Christmas Day itself and on the weekends around it.”
Dworzanowski-Venter said though factors such as poverty, education and gender play a role, the issue is more nuanced.
The survey included respondents from 18 to over 65 years old, with the 26–35 age group reporting the highest psychological distress.
“The study that I mentioned from 2020 is interesting because they looked at mortality figures from 1997 to 2016 and they concluded that the people who were the most vulnerable were people aged 15 to 29,” she said.
“We don’t have 15-year-olds in our study, but what we are seeing 10 years later is that 26 to 35-year-olds were the ones who reported the highest levels of psychological distress. When you think about that, it makes a lot of sense, because it’s 10 years on from the study. So our age category 26 to 35 is the one we should be focusing on,” she said.
Dworzanowski-Venter highlighted that economic pressures were a consistent theme across the survey.
“Even pensioners and retired people struggle financially in the sense that there is a loneliness that comes from their children living abroad and a lack of funding to bring their children back home for the holidays and to go and visit,” Dworzanowski-Venter said.
The burden of school-related costs in January also contributes to stress, she said.
“When you’ve got minors under the age of 18, that places a unique burden in January of school fees on people,” she said.
The survey captured a broad range of emotions, categorising respondents into thriving, surviving or disconnecting.
Some said they were thriving, embracing the holiday season and one of the respondents was quoted saying: “I love Christmas — I make it work, because it is a special time of year. It’s not always easy, but if I don’t at least try, it will be a sad beginning to the next year.”
Another who was reported to be surviving said: “My feeling about the coming festive season is overstressing for me due to unemployment. I can’t afford to buy my kids what their heart desires. I can’t even buy groceries, heartbreaking.”
I wish it could pass because I don’t have money to spoil my family, and they are expecting a lot from me.
— Survey respondent
A male respondent who described his feeling as disconnected said: “I wish it could pass because I don’t have money to spoil my family, and they are expecting a lot from me.”
In the survey’s word cloud of most reported festive feelings, the key emotions and words reported included anxiety, stress, sad, loneliness, worried, exhausted and nervous.
Other frequently mentioned feelings included depressed, unsure, excited, happiness, hope, overwhelmed, conflicted, unhappy, drained, frustrated, indifferent, numb and empty.
Dworzanowski-Venter said these words represent the wide emotional range experienced during the festive season.
The survey also revealed that 54% of people have not been diagnosed with a mental health condition.
The top six mental health conditions reported were depression (30%), stress (21%), anxiety (15%), panic attacks (11%), burnout (7%) and bipolar disorder (5%).
“Which tells us across the board that people are struggling,” she said.
However, it’s not a one-sided story. There are a number of people who when they anticipate the festive season, are excited, optimistic, feel blessed and happy and see it as a time for family.
“So it really does show us in one simple diagram just how people can feel quite differently about the same set of stresses or the same set of events,” said Dworzanowski-Venter.
She described the uniquely South African experience known as “Januworry” as the reason why many respondents where not excited for the festive season.
Dworzanowski-Venter said most people experienced Janu-Worry.
‘Januworry’ refers to the financial strain that often accompanies the aftermath of holiday spending such as overindulgence on gifts, travel and festive celebrations which can leave individuals in a precarious financial position in January.
Sadag operations director Cassey Chambers said their phone lines will be open throughout the festive season for anyone who needs to talk, is feeling overwhelmed or alone.
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