The Christmas season -- a time of joy and merriment -- can often be a time of depression and despair for Bermudians.

And Bermudian psychologist Christine Phillips-Harrell, while admitting that hers is not a new idea, is offering counselling for people who are depressed during the holiday period.

"Christmas time is difficult for people in that it is different from other holidays,'' Dr. Phillips-Harrell said.

Speaking in her office at Hamilton's Ashton Associates in the Mechanics Building, she said the Christmas season is really a month of constant pressure to enjoy the season.

This cycle seems to be the cause of the high suicide rate overseas during December and Bermuda is not immune.

Dr. Phillips-Harrell is a graduate of Berkeley Institute and has a doctorate in counselling psychology from Howard University.

She has worked as a school counsellor at Berkeley, an assistant professor and counselling psychologist at Howard, and for two years until this fall worked within the Ministry of Education.

She has conducted research in such areas as substance abuse prevention and education and wrote her doctoral dissertation on the effects of separation and divorce on children and young adults.

Dr. Phillips-Harrell explained that people can become depressed by loneliness, unrealistic expectations, and loss of a loved one and the festive season can compound these feelings.

She added: "We get a lot of referrals from people in the helping professions.

Many people often wonder why they're feeling down.'' Unrealistic expectations make the season worse for some people with the constant barrage from the media of conspicuous consumption.

Whereas loneliness magnified during the season for people who are already lonely with the culture's emphasis on family and giving.

But the loss of a loved one during the year may lead to depression at Christmas because it will be the first time without that person. "You may not know it but you could actually be suffering from depression when you may think you're `feeling down','' Dr. Phillips-Harrell.

She added: "During the season we may have a tendency to overspend.

Disappointment that we have overspent or underspent may trigger depression.'' "Christmas is a time of remembering and recapping your life,'' Dr.

Phillips-Harrell explained. "Not having met those goals of your life can bring about the Christmas blues.'' Switching from the Christmas blues to mental health in general in Bermuda Dr.

Phillips-Harrell said she had noted a large amount of eating disorders among Bermudians and even what she called "adjustment problems''.

"We do see people who are having adjustment problems,'' she said. "Whether they are Bermudians who have returned to the Island from lengthy stays abroad, or they are foreign workers, we do see them.'' She added: "Often they say `we don't have any friends or we don't have any family here'. We know what that means for them and we help them adjust to life here.'' Christine Phillips-Harrell