Mad, Sad and Glorious to Know

How a 400-year-old self-help manual could light up your Christmas

Despite the longstanding belief that our mental health takes a dive in the run-up to Christmas, the published evidence seems to contradict it.

According to a definitive 2023 report in Frontiers in Psychiatry – notwithstanding the toxic confluence of difficult memories, unrealistic expectations, and the limitless potential for family conflict – most of us hold off from officially seeking help until well into January.

With this in mind, I’m prescribing a 400-year-old, 1,300-page book as a stocking filler to head off the inevitable post-Yule dip.

The Anatomy of Melancholy first appeared in 1621; the sole published work of Robert Burton, a priest and scholar who spent almost all of his adult life in Oxford, surrounded by books and struggling with his moods.