BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Correction: Sarah Medzyk is a registered associate marriage and family therapist under the supervision of Laura Wells, MS, LMFT.
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. A day often commercialized by businesses across the country as a chance to shower loved ones with gifts of affection and romance.
However mental health experts say it's a day that many experience anxiety, stress and even depression. Sarah Medzyk is a registered associate marriage and family therapist under the supervision of Laura Wells, MS, LMFT. Desiree Sams are licensed marriage and family therapist. They say people often place expectations they should be in a relationship during Valentine's Day.
There's a lot of social pressure to be in a couple, we almost get told we're not complete unless we have one other person with us.
They both say pressure can come from social media.
You're watching somebody else's highlight reel. No one posts when they're having a very hard day or failures, or they don't post about that Valentine's Day that went really wrong and caused a fight and was difficult and sucked.
Both Medzyk and Sams say the key to battling the Valentine's Day blues is acts of self love, which can look different for women and men. One recent trend for women are friendship events called Galentine's Day. The day is celebrated February 13th and focuses on friendship over romantic love. They say even though women tend to express emotions more so then men, depression has no gender.
They also say it's not healthy to enter into a relationship if it's not the right one.
