(Image source: protographer23 / Flickr)

BY STEVEN SPARKMAN

ANCHOR LAUREN ZIMA

There’s nothing like being told how depressed you are. Monday the 16th is the third Monday of January, or “Blue Monday,” supposedly the most depressing day of the year. Here’s KTVI with what makes the day such an alleged downer.

“Psychologists say Blue Monday is caused by several factors: bad weather, post-Christmas sadness and money worries.”

The “most-depressing” label comes from a psychological equation that puts together all those factors. Every year, news organizations feature advice on cheering yourself up. But a writer for The Week points out there’s another media tradition for the depressing day.

“Blue Monday ... is here again -- and as night follows day, so an avalanche of mockery has followed in its wake. ... Seven years on, the newspaper articles explaining why Blue Monday is just pseudo-science have become as much a tradition as the ‘news story’ itself.”

Blue Monday was thought up by psychologist Cliff Arnall in 2005. But a writer for Gizmodo points out, it’s not exactly based on the sturdiest evidence.

“Based on a whole bunch of arbitrary variables -- like ‘debt’, ‘motivation’, ‘weather’ and ‘need to take action’ -- Arnall developed the equation for a travel firm, presumably to sell more holidays by capitalizing on our collective malaise.”

But while the media take turns either taking Blue Monday seriously or ruthlessly making fun of it, Arnall doubled down. He spoke to the BBC about why this year’s Blue Monday is the most depressing ever!

“The threat of job redundancy is particularly high, and it seems that no job sector is safe from that. And that also means that the competition for remaining jobs becomes very high. We’ve got the cost of fuel and food going up.”

But what’s the harm if it gets people talking about depression? An opinion writer at the Guardian says part of the problem is that Blue Monday isn’t even about real depression.

“I believe strongly that pseudoscience (like this equation) regularly presented as genuine science in the mainstream media harms the public understanding of science and psychology. It's also disrespectful to those who suffer from genuine depression, suggesting that it is temporary, minor and experienced by everyone...”