Here in America, tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, the holiday during which we – you guessed it – give thanks.

There’s a whole bunch of other stuff mixed in there like safely landing in the New World and Pilgrims and Native Americans and harvests and Abraham Lincoln making it official in 1863, but this isn’t a history blog, okay?

It’s a mental health blog.

As such, I thought it’d be beneficial to post some information about dealing with stress during the holidays, because, let’s face it – the holidays can get pretty freaking stressful, for different reasons for different people:

• Strained family relationships.
• Loneliness or missing loved ones.
• Striving to make sure everything is perfect.
• Juggling everyday activities like work with major holiday preparations like cleaning and cooking.
• Negative associations with family gatherings or holiday celebrations.

Yep, sounds like there’s potential for stress there, to me.

Fortunately, there are ways you can deal with holiday stress. Before everyone sits down at the table tomorrow, check out these resources for dealing with Thanksgiving stress:

• Special Report: Coping With Thanksgiving: This Psych Central Special Report includes information on everything from overeating to relationships.
• Strategies For Surviving Thanksgiving: Resident cartoonist Chato B. Stewart reminds us how to laugh during stressful situations.
• 10 Tips For Surviving Thanksgiving With The Dysfunctional Family: From Psych Central’s Holiday Coping section. (I don’t think this one needs much of a summary!)
• Beating Holiday Stress: MedicineNet shares info on how to “survive the holiday frenzy without feeling frantic.”
• Home For The Holidays: This WebMD section helps you beat holiday-related anxiety and stress.
• 8 Tips To Beat Holiday Stress: Practical tips for physical, mental, and emotional well-being during the holiday season from Psychology Today.
• 25 Ways To Beat Holiday Stress: WHAO! The Mother of All Beat Holiday Stress Lists! This PDF document comes to us, oddly enough, from the Georgia Department of Corrections.

Of course, most of these tips can help carry you through the entire holiday season, all the way to Christmas and New Year’s.

So, readers: What have YOU done to prepare for potential stress tomorrow, and throughout the holiday season? Any past horror stories you can share to help others? Tips that helped you survive?

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    Last reviewed: 20 Nov 2011