The Current Significance of Valentine's Day, Suicide and Well-being

Valentine's day has for long been marketed as the day of love. One where couples are supposed to celebrate the love they share and single people are supposed to get drunk with their mates to feel better about themselves.

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Well, this year things are looking a bit different.

People are going through more struggles than usual, whether in relationships or alone. It is a holiday that has, for the longest time, been dreaded by singletons and even some couples, where their problems seem to be highlighted during this time. Of course, this does not apply to everyone. People also DO genuinely enjoy this holiday, single or with a partner. But what I will be discussing is the significance of peoples well-being this year and what we need to pay extra attention to right now.

As I mentioned, for some this has always been a dreaded holiday, for others, it has become something to dread in the past year. In light of this, I have conducted some research on many important things we need to be aware of during this time using past research papers and an analysis of these.

First of all, I want to start with one of the most important tragedies Valentine's day seems to be a catalyst for, suicide. A positive topic I know, but seriously, this is vital now more than ever. If we look at research papers into suicide trends on Valentine's day here's what you find:

Houran & Keith (2007) describe the "Sad Side of Valentine's Day" and explore the negative correlation between mental health and Valentine's day. They describe a study conducted in 1990 by Devenport and Birtle which outlines an association between parasuicide (particularly in adolescents) and Valentines Day hospital admissions in London. (Google defines parasuicide as an attempted suicide without the actual intention of killing oneself)

Yes, this research is 30 years old. But one very important thing that history teaches us is the significance of past events in the prediction of future ones. Research on this topic is minimal but from the research available, almost all of it indicates a higher risk of parasuicide and suicide on and around Valentines Day.

Suicide is not the only major issue we should be aware of. The general decline in mental health is almost expected with such unexpected circumstances, but of course, this does not mean we should stay ignorant about it. A study titled "A coming wave: suicide and gender after COVID-19" (Standish, 2020) outlines an abundance of studies which highlight past outcomes of pandemics and the increased risk in mental health issues during and after.

A study on anxiety and depression (Smith et. al) and mental wellbeing with relation to COVID-19 found that poor mental health is prevalent in 36.9% of the population. But this study's sample size is 932 participants; if we magnify these figures to the population of the UK assuming 36.9% of people have poor mental health, that would mean 24.94 million people in the UK are suffering from poor mental health.

These figures are far from accurate but even as an estimate provide us with major awareness of the current issue.

This is why the emphasis on wellbeing is growing within a multitude of industries. Retail is taking advantage of this increase and providing us with more opportunities to splash our funds on things that will make us feel better. The thing is, we need to be finding things that work for us as individuals (which I will be writing about in more detail soon) and if that does involve the investment into wellbeing products, then do it. Especially now when the day of love is looming. We do not have to let these figures scare us, we can find ways to make these celebrations enjoyable for ourselves and others using what we do have: the internet. So yes as cheesy as it may sound, I'm saying spread the love right now.

We can transfer the research we already have and use it as a warning. History does something great, it gives us the ability to predict. I'm not saying my research is incredible and is something a lot of us do not already know. But that's the thing. Some people don't know. The research highlights that we need to be VIGILANT. People have to feel seen.

These facts probably do not come as a surprise to most of you, yet these holidays seem to dim the light on their importance.

The issue is these are all past figures and now more than ever things have been changing. Much like reactions during the financial crisis of the great depression, mental health has plummeted. The message I want to get across from all of this is the actions we should be taking to ensure this is not overlooked.

We need to do little things, all of us. Check in on your loved ones yes. But also check in on your neighbours. Your colleagues. Your boss. Family friends. The bus driver. The care worker. The elderly. The lonely. The vulnerable. And look out for others too. Sometimes those who do not seem to be under threat may be. This is a message, to be good to each other in moments where people's livelihoods and lives are at greater risk.

And as for what to do for yourself, well, same as everyone else. Check in. Do things that make you feel good, whether that's video calls of celebration or ignoring this holiday whatsoever. Do what you need to do to feel good and get through.

If I've left you wondering what you can do to help yourself and others, stay posted and subscribe for upcoming articles that will give you some inspiration on what you can do.

-The Platform

Sources: Houran, J. and Keith, M., 2021.The Sad Side of Valentine's Day - What the Industry Should Know. : 4Hoteliers. [online] 4Hoteliers.com. Available at: <https://www.4hoteliers.com/features/article/1877>

Davenport, S. and Birtle, J., 1990. Association between parasuicide and Saint Valentine's Day.BMJ, [online] 300(6727), pp.783-784. Available at: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1662519/pdf/bmj00171-0029.pdf>.

Standish, K., 2020. A coming wave: suicide and gender after COVID-19.Journal of Gender Studies, [online] 30(1), pp.114-118. Available at: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09589236.2020.1796608>.

Smith, L., Jacob, L., Yakkundi, A., McDermott, D., Armstrong, N., Barnett, Y., López-Sánchez, G., Martin, S., Butler, L. and Tully, M., 2020. Correlates of symptoms of anxiety and depression and mental wellbeing associated with COVID-19: a cross-sectional study of UK-based respondents.Psychiatry Research, [online] 291, p.113138. Available at: <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165178120312476>.