Addressing the needs of patients with severe mental illnesses

Blue Monday, commemorated in January, centres on the idea that the third Monday of that month has been calculated to be the most depressing day of the year, associated with post-Christmas financial hardship, foul weather and increasingly failing new year's resolutions. The idea of a specific day of amplified low mood, and its empirical evidence base, has been debunked both as pseudoscience and mathematically unsound, and possibly a marketing ploy to promote winter sales to sunnier climates. All these arguments notwithstanding, the awareness of personal difficulties and a desire to be helpful is noteworthy and shows a professional and personal insight into helping people over a period that has connotations of austerity and cheerlessness.

Evidence, even though it may be uncomfortable, provides the impetus to review practices. For many people, patients, their families or carers, the experience of severe mental illness, such as depression, can be a significant, distressing and debilitating burden. It is also associated with poorer physical health and inequitable healthcare experiences. This is particularly relevant for palliative and end-of-life care.