The Rock & Roll Shrink Radio Show Ep. 56 - The Psychology of Holidays

Tonight’s show is called, “The Psychology of Holidays.”

It seems like the majority of people in our society and culture enjoy at least some of the holidays that occur every year. Some more so than others. On this show, we have talked in the past about psychological issues connected to this upcoming holiday season in particular, although much of what we will discuss covers other holidays as well, and the whole process in general.

We have done Ep. 9 - Holiday Depression (Part 1 of 3) 11-30-16, Ep. 10 - Maintaining Sobriety & Health During the Holidays (Part 2 of 3) 12-14-16, Ep. 11 - Reasonable & Rational New Year’s Resolutions (Part 3 of 3) 12-28-16, Ep. 35 - The Grand Illusion 12-13-17 (The myth of perfect holidays), and Ep. 36 - Another Auld Lang Syne 12-27-17 (Resolutions & guilt).

Tonight, we would like to take a look at the very phenomenon of holidays themselves, in order to understand why we have so much emotional energy around this topic, in particular. Some of this may be more sociology and culture studies than psychology, but the 3 are intertwined.

Tonight, we will discuss:

1. An Overview of The Psychology of Holidays
2. The Purpose. History, and Sociology of Holidays.
3. The Dark Side of Holidays – Depression, Marketing, Privilege, Peer Pressure. and Cultural Butchering
4. Conclusions

?Before we begin tonight's topic discussion, we will have some topic-relevant classic rock music played by Dr. Mathis, and then our segment, "The Rock & Roll Shrink Recalls, a moment of rock music trivia stories, as recounted by Dr. Mathis.