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OAKLAND— Conventional wisdom holds that the pre-Christmas rush can lead to depression, but one mental health expert says emotionally vulnerable people should pay closer attention to the calm after the storm. 

Richard Bee, a mental health professional at a Berkeley extension of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, says people may actually feel better, not worse, in the time leading up to December 25. 

“I feel there is a decrease (in depression) over Christmas because people get together with family. It's after Christmas that the bomb may drop so to speak,” he said. 

Bee is uniquely qualified to know the patterns of holiday depression. As admissions liaison for the Herrick Campus, a Berkeley psychiatric center owned by Alta Bates Summit, Bee serves as a preliminary go-between for the psychiatric center and patients, often determining who needs help and what kind. 

“In my experience we have more admissions over New Year’s than over Christmas,'' he said. 

Bee said deflated expectations of the holiday – reality checks such as family strife or wistfulness for more innocent times – is what can lead to Christmastime depression. But it's a feeling that tends to set in after the holiday is over, he said. 

Oakland psychiatrist Dr. Paul Guillory, whose office is located near the Summit hospitals, was not convinced that Christmas Day marked a cutoff for patterns of depression. He said such feelings arise during the whole season, not necessarily after Christmas is over.  

“I think the holidays in general can be both exciting to some people and more depressing to others,” he said. “It's more the season I think than Christmas Day itself.” 

Guillory agreed, however, on the cause of holiday depression. 

“There's certainly a lot of hype around Christmas that some people don't feel.” 

He said while this is a shared experience during the holidays, some people are more susceptible to clinical depression due to past experiences, chemical predisposition, or other factors.