Dr. Nicole Saphier: Tips to Avoid a Blue Christmas

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Search for Economist Podcasts Plus and sign up to our free one-month trial. Dr. Nicole Sapp, Ira full-time is a medical doctor and plays it on TV. She's a Fox News medical contributor here, has a great column out talking about the holidays. Everyone's talking about family get-togethers. You see these great Folgers commercials and these great depictions of Christmas albums and Christmas specials. And you see all this fun. And what if you're somebody without a great family or any family?

What if you don't fit those molds? What does it do for depression? What does it do for your self-esteem?

What does it do for your life? She writes about that in a column on FoxNews.com and she talks about it here now. Dr. Sapphire, welcome back. Hey Brian, great to be on you before the holidays. I know, and we did work together with Tyrus's version of late night television on Saturday night. Yeah, we sure did. I mean, I don't know about you, but I kind of, I liked the chemistry on the couch.

It's fun doing Saturday night together. Right, I know. I thought it was great. And, you know, Tyrus was okay too.

He does a great job at night. So, Dr. Sapphire, you had an interesting angle. What made you say to yourself, I gotta go show someone some of the dark side of what could be happening on this holiday season? Well, you know, I think everybody has battled in sometime during their life, you know, feelings of, you know, not being tip-top shape mentally. So whether you're feeling sad, you're feeling worried, or you're just feeling, you know, frustrated or in a rut, you know, just because it's the holiday spirit and you hear Christmas carols and, you know, bright lights everywhere. That doesn't mean that everyone is really in that Christmas spirit. And that doesn't mean that we should shut down Christmas because we don't want to make anybody feel bad. But I just think it's really important that we also recognize that there are some people that are struggling and especially during the holidays, you know, for me, Christmas, New Year's, the entire holiday season is all about togetherness. I want to spend as much time as possible with my friends and family. I love getting together.

But some people don't necessarily have that. And as we have seen increasingly over the last few years, the importance of family, that family unit is becoming less and less important to these younger generations. And so it's really a call to action of, hey, everyone, you need to remember that your family is always going to be there.

You should do anything you can to kind of rekindle that magic, whether you've had a falling out, you know, whether you're separated, do what you can. But that feeling of togetherness, we have to bring that back. Yeah, you point to a Pew Research study that shows the public cannot even agree on what the family unit is. Forty percent feel pessimistic about its future. More Americans now point to their job 71 percent or friends 61 percent as the place they find fulfillment rather than having kids at 26 percent. We've been seeing that more and more.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, millennials, Gen Z or whatever the heck these terms are these days. You know, people are saying we're going to have kids later. Maybe we're not going to have kids at all. We're only going to have one kid because it's bad for the environment.

I mean, come on. You know, the most important thing that you can do, not necessarily everyone needs to have children, but to preserve that family and that family unit is so crucial for us as a society moving forward. I mean, we've really lost sight of what our values are and what they should be. Right. You point to your you and your son wrote a book, a children's book called That's What Family's For. What prompted that and what was the message that can help today?

Yeah. So about a year and a half ago, and we haven't talked much about this, but about a year and a half ago, my son was given a medical diagnosis that kind of rocked our world. To be honest, certainly wasn't we weren't expecting it. And it comes with some long term consequences. And, you know, both parents, myself and my husband being physicians, you know, being being a parent is hard.

Being a physician parent is really hard because you have maybe some intricate knowledge that other people may not. So we really shut down. But that was a time where we realized the most important thing to us was being together as a family. So all of a sudden, you know, parents, our kids, we all kind of rallied around my son to just make sure he knew that we were all there for him.

And maybe future is going to look a little bit different than we're expecting. But the bottom line is, as long as we have each other, we're going to be there and we're going to all be OK as long as we're in it together. One thing I did notice, if anyone's struggling with addiction or things like that, the holidays are the worst because the stress is when they feel they might be evaluated or they know that they're not going to be hitting their marks because they've been working against themselves with every substance they're wrestling with or whatever behavior, gambling on down. So have you seen that and taught you just from others, whether it's your medical profession or real life, if you do have some type of addiction that you're dealing with, it really gets challenging now?

Certainly. Addiction, mental health illness during the holidays are terrible. You have a lot of people who are even just alcohol.

There's more social events and there's just more temptation. And so people who know that they are struggling with addiction, you know, not saying that you have to avoid all holiday parties, but make sure you're surrounding yourself by people who support you and who are aware of your struggles and try not to fall into some of those dangers and make sure you're leaning on people, friends, families, and those who are there for you. And don't go look for any sort of satisfaction in superficial findings.

Right. Superficial people and things. Just a quick thing about what you deal with on a daily basis. You have to often go up to people and you're the first one to tell them they have cancer.

And does that give you a perspective on life that maybe people not in your profession wouldn't experience? Well, yeah. So I mean, tomorrow morning I have, you know, about five biopsies scheduled. That means I'm going to have their pathology the day after Christmas.

And I can guarantee you a couple of those biopsies are going to be cancer. And, you know, these are certainly difficult words to hear, especially around the holidays. And, you know, again, all I can say is you meet people when they feel that they're alone, that is when things start to spiral out of control. And so you have to lean on those around you because there's a huge support system, family, friends, even groups who are going through the same thing you are. You can't be afraid to lean on those for support because that is what, we are social creatures.

If you look in the blue zones, the areas where people live the longest, it's because they have strong social connections. It is crucial for mental and physical health to lean on those around you. Gotcha. Dr. Sapphire, do you have a list and do you hope that, is this really for you more about getting everything on your list you want to receive? Is that true more than give?

I love giving Christmas time. And I'm telling you, Brian, we just moved into a new house this weekend. This weekend? Wow. Yeah, it's been a lot.

Kids had the flu, COVID, the stomach bug. I mean, we've got it all. But I'll tell you, all I really care about this Christmas season is that everyone is happy and healthy. And I would love if there is a little chocolate under the Christmas tree.

Maybe a bottle of champagne. I understand. So what are you going to be hosting now? Are you going to be on the big show this weekend? No, I'm actually hosting Fox and Friends stepping in for Rachel this weekend.

And then the big show the following weekend. Wow, that's going to be exciting. I know you're going to be ready for it. And in all aspects, and the good news is, the news doesn't slow down because it's the holidays. So you're definitely going to have your hands full.

Dr. Sapphire, you move into a house, host two shows over the weekend, dealing with COVID. There's nothing you can't handle. I mean, you know, Brian, I'm just trying to keep up with you.

Right. We're exactly the same, except you went ahead and did that easy thing called medical school. You could have done it. I'm sure you could have. Yeah, it was just a matter of time. Dr. Sapphire, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Listen to the show ad free on Fox News Podcast Plus on Apple Podcast, Amazon Music with your prime membership or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.