What are some of the mental health benefits of going to a ‘friendsgiving?’ A local psychiatrist weighs in

Family Thanksgiving gatherings can be stressful A local psychiatrist says that a friendsgiving could help give you a break this holiday season Related stories Heading out of town for Thanksgiving Avoid these traffic hotspots according to a Google expert Virginia Tech food safety expert offers advice on keeping turkey free of germs This DC-area nonprofit is seeing fewer donations this holiday season Here s how you can help It makes sense that friendsgiving to me would be beneficial stated Sam Schiavone division chief of inpatient adult psychiatry at Inova in Falls Church Virginia It s more colloquial He declared that the tradition could be a good way to de-stress and center yourself It s friends that you ve made and sought and get along with and now you re spending time together good quality time and giving thanks to each other Just celebrating the friendship that you made rather than celebrating the holiday he stated Schiavone noted just being grateful is a good thing for your mental physical condition Being with people that you love and they love you is going to make you feel more connected more grounded he noted Just by virtue of social connection that has been shown to improve well being Being grateful indeed impacts your mood which could help when we might be stressed about going to a traditional Thanksgiving with family you haven t seen in awhile Giving thanks does a trick in our brain where it feels like we re also getting thanks So we tend to feel happy and good when we re praising others he mentioned A lot of healthy chemicals neurotransmitters get expressed when we receive things but even when we give thanks And when it comes to traditional Thanksgivings with family he commented tell them you re grateful for them and selected physical touch can go a long way too Just hugging family members hugging friends can release good happy chemicals in the brain like oxytocin he stated Source