Unpacking the Post-Vacation Blues

In theory, the days after vacation or the holidays should find travelers feeling refreshed, rested and ready to resume work and family responsibilities. All too often, though, that’s exactly when post-vacation blues hit.

But there is good news: Knowing a bit about these moods can help us avoid them, as well as determine whether we should seek professional help.

Some travelers are affected more than others, mental health experts suggest. While post-trip blues can plague anyone, “It’s often the people who are really excited about the trip in the first place who tend to get the blues,” said Gary Emery, a clinical psychologist and director of the Center for Cognitive Therapy, Los Angeles. That’s often because a trip rarely lives up to all expectations.

Whether travelers get post-vacation blues depends, in part, on how well they have resolved conflicts before leaving and whether they feel the vacation is well deserved or undeserved, said Dr. Mark Goulston, a Santa Monica psychiatrist.

Those who feel it is well-deserved are probably taking a break from work and family routines after demonstrating responsibility, he said. Those who don’t, may feel they are running away from responsibilities. Such avoidance feelings can eat into enjoyment of a vacation and add to anxiety during and after a trip.

Even those who are returning from a vacation they consider well-deserved don’t embrace work immediately, Goulston said. “One’s vacation is always too short.” But those who basically enjoy their work and social life will come back with a feeling that they have worked hard, played hard and are now ready to work. “There’s a sense of fairness and reward.”

Most people probably have some form of “transient blues,” said Seppo Iso-Ahola, professor of social psychology at the University of Maryland. While they are away, their feelings of involvement with their job declines, he said, and their interest and feelings regarding other aspects of life increase. “When you come back to work,” he said, “you just don’t find it as interesting or as good as it used to be.”

For many, that feeling is fleeting, Iso-Ahola said. People who have high job satisfaction before vacation and a satisfying vacation are--in the long run--likely to have higher job satisfaction afterward, he said. “It very much depends on where you started.”

How do we determine whether blues are the ride-it-out variety or the kind that could benefit from professional attention? “If it takes longer than two or three days to get back in the swing,” Emery said, “it’s more than the normal post-vacation blues.”

To minimize blues next time around, experts offer these suggestions:

* Take care of whatever pre-trip responsibilities are the most guilt-producing well before departure, Goulston said.

* Take a brief time out before the trip to anticipate work or household tasks that need immediate attention upon return from the trip, whether it be picking up mail or getting to an important business meeting, Goulston said. Make crib notes so it will be easy to feel up-to-speed upon return.

* Balance work and leisure life throughout the year so that contrasts on vacation won’t be so jarring, Iso-Ahola said.

* “Plan (the blues) as a cost of the trip, like an airline ticket,” Emery suggested. “Know you’re going to be a little depressed when you get back. If you are prepared, it minimizes it.”

* If possible, take a day of rest between your return and the first day back to work or family responsibilities, Emery suggested. Low energy can contribute to post-vacation blues.

* Enlist the help of co-workers and friends to minimize post-vacation stress. “Many times, when people come back from vacation, they hear all the negative stuff first,” Emery said. “Ask people to hold off on the bad news . . . .”

* “Get out of the thinking mind into the physical world,” Emery said. Start unpacking, go through the mail, normalize routines.

* Simply anticipating what tasks lie immediately ahead upon return from a trip will take away most of the dread, Goulston said.

* Take time out mid-trip to send out correspondence. “When you come back, responses will be there,” Goulston said, contending that the outside input will spur re-entry motivation.

The Healthy Traveler appears the second and fourth week of every month.