Axis Integrated Mental Health releases free holiday wellness guide for Coloradans

Axis Integrated Mental Health has published a free 34-page Holiday Wellness Survival Kit for 2026 to help Coloradans manage holiday anxiety, grief, and seasonal depression. The guide also points readers to signs that symptoms may require professional treatment beyond self-care.

Why it matters: - The holiday season can intensify loneliness, grief, anxiety, and depression for many people. - Holiday stress can look different from seasonal affective disorder, but both can interfere with daily life. - The guide is meant to help people recognize warning signs early and know when to seek professional care.

What happened: - Axis Integrated Mental Health, a Colorado psychiatric practice specializing in depression and treatment-resistant depression, released a free Holiday Wellness Survival Kit 2026. - The 34-page guide focuses on holiday depression, seasonal mood changes, family stress, grief, and pressure to create a picture-perfect season. - The practice serves Aurora, Boulder County, Westminster, and the Denver Tech Center, with telehealth available statewide.

The details: - The American Psychiatric Association's 2025 Healthy Minds Poll found 41% of U.S. adults expected more holiday stress than the year before, up from 28% in 2024. - Nearly half of adults surveyed, 48%, worried about grief or missing someone. - About one-third worried about difficult family dynamics or loneliness. - Holiday depression is an informal term for sadness, loneliness, anxiety, or emotional exhaustion tied to the season. - Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is a recurring depression pattern that typically starts in fall or winter and improves in spring or summer. - The National Institute of Mental Health says winter-pattern SAD can include persistent sadness, low energy, oversleeping, increased appetite, carbohydrate cravings, and social withdrawal. - Axis recommends five practical steps: simplify traditions, get outside during daylight hours, stop comparing holidays to others, make room for grief, and seek professional help when self-care is not enough. - Warning signs that point to possible depression include sadness lasting two weeks or longer, loss of interest, sleep or appetite changes, trouble concentrating, withdrawal from others, emotional numbness, and thoughts of death or suicide. - Severe symptoms, especially suicidal thoughts, warrant immediate attention. - The guide includes material on winter mood changes, holiday stress and women, emotional blunting, social anxiety, holiday triggers, self-care, grief support, creative activities, and Colorado outings. - The guide is free for individuals, families, caregivers, therapists, primary care providers, and school counselors.

Between the lines: - The release draws a clear line between short-term holiday stress and depression that may need clinical treatment. - The message is that coping tools can help with seasonal strain, but they do not replace care for persistent depression. - The guide also broadens the audience beyond patients, aiming to equip caregivers and school or medical professionals who may spot symptoms first. - Dr. Kartiki Churi, chief medical officer at Axis Integrated Mental Health, said the guide can help with holiday stress, but it cannot treat depression. - Churi added that low mood that started long before the holidays is a cue to seek help. - Axis says people who have not improved with antidepressants may be evaluated for Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, an FDA-cleared noninvasive treatment, or Spravato, an FDA-approved nasal spray for adults with treatment-resistant depression.

What's next: - Coloradans can download the free guide and contact Axis for psychiatric evaluations, medication management, therapy, Deep TMS, or Spravato. - Axis says it aims to schedule new patients within seven days, depending on availability. - People in crisis can call or text 988, and people facing immediate danger should call 911. - More information is available at the company's website.

The bottom line: - Axis is using a free holiday guide to steer people toward practical coping tools and faster treatment when seasonal stress is actually depression.