Bench & Bar November/December 2025

3) SELF-AWARENESS IS ESSENTIAL;

Auburn University (https://tinyurl.com/ georgia-auburn), it was noted that “while previous research has suggested that post-holiday benefits vanish quickly, this study found that wellbeing stayed elevated even 21 days after returning. The research ers estimate that the positive effects could, in fact, last up to 43 days.” One can see how effective this could be, for example, in Spain, where a new holiday is celebrated once every approximately 36 hours. Overall, “the strongest wellbeing gains came from those who were able to mentally detach from work, followed by those who focused on relaxation.” What of the alleged downside to the holi days, given the commonly held belief that most suicides happen during the time of year associated with enforced family gatherings on those dates? Fortunately, as described by experts at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) (https://tinyurl.com/holi day-harm), the period encompassing such holidays as Thanksgiving, Hannukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa is actually associ ated with the lowest rates of suicide, not the highest. Maintaining that in a recent survey about 40% of media stories had “incorrectly supported” the myth of increased suicide during the most prominent holiday season, the APPC further indicated that 80% of adults erroneously chose that period as the “time of year in which the largest number of suicides occur.” This having been acknowledged, we should not blithely assume that being thrown together with family during the holidays is a guaranteed stroll through park, walk on the beach, or whatever other ambula tory metaphor seasonal weather patterns might permit. In recognition of the risks that may still attend forced collectivization based upon the consanguinity tables most of us dimly recall from law school, clin ical psychologist Claire Nicogossian (https://tinyurl.com/drclaire-advice) encourages us to think, act, and recognize in—among others—the following ways:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

4) INCREASE SELF-CARE; 5) DON’T TAKE THINGS PERSONALLY; 6) UNDERSTAND HOW YOU DEAL WITH STRESS; 7) EXPRESS GRATITUDE; AND 8) KEEP A SENSE OF HUMOR. Implementing mental health and wellness advice is an art in and of itself, and doing so in a clumsy fashion can in some instances exacerbate the very problems one is hoping to minimize or avoid outright. Various methods for utilizing Dr. Nicogossian’s guidance provide a graduated case in point. Printing out the list and referring to it dis creetly: not bad. Getting caught referring to it: bad. Distributing copies to everyone at the outset of a family gathering: very bad. It's easy to see how holidays raise notions that are germane to the guidance proffered by the “National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being” (the “Task Force”), an entity “conceptualized and initiated by the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP), the National Orga nization of Bar Counsel (NOBC), and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL)” and made up of several other “participating entities” from within and without the American Bar Association (https://tinyurl.com/ntflwb). The Task Force has identified six pillars or “dimensions” that combine to “make up full well-being for lawyers,” one of which is the “Spiritual” dimension, expressed in part by “developing a sense of meaning fulness and purpose in all aspects of life” (https://tinyurl.com/ntflwb-report). Many commonly observed holidays have an explicitly spiritual basis, histor

DR. ERIC Y. DROGIN is a Norton Healthcare Louisville Hospitals Medi cal Staff member with clinical privileges in adult psychology. A

clinical faculty member of the University of Louisville School of Medicine, he also teaches on the faculty of the Harvard Medi cal School, where he serves as the Affiliated Lead of Psycholegal Studies for the Psychi atry, Law, and Society Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and participates in the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and the Forensic Psychiatry Service at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Proud to be a Kentucky lawyer for the last 35 years, Dr. Drogin is a former chair of the ABA Science & Technology Law Section and a former president of the American Board of Forensic Psychology. Please contact him at eyd@drogin.net with your suggestions for lawyer mental health and wellness topics.

@Kentucky Bar Association KBA Socials

@KyBarNews

@Kentucky Bar Association

ically and sometimes in the present day as well. Here’s wishing everyone the very best, however we choose to celebrate.

Stay Connected. Follow us to stay in the know.

1) NOTHING IS PERFECT; 2) ACCEPT OTHERS FOR WHO THEY ARE;

29 bench & bar