For many of us, spending time with loved ones over the holidays can be a source of joy.

For others, not so much.

They can mean awkward dinner table conversations, pressure to meet family expectations, and battling it out with relatives who don't share your political views.

Cross Country Checkup host Duncan McCue spoke with Joshua Peters, a registered psychotherapist and clinical manager at the Centre for Interpersonal Relationships in Toronto, about the biggest family challenges people face during the holidays, and how to overcome them.

Here's part of their conversation.

People share their anxieties with you every day. But I imagine that it kind of ramps up a bit during the holidays. What kind of things are you hearing?

I hear from a lot of my clients right now about family obligations and feeling really overwhelmed oftentimes by the different holiday obligations that they have, be it staff parties, be it whether or not they need to go to different meals, different events. All that kind of stuff really starts to pile up right around now.

What kind of family dynamics come into play that can kind of trigger conflict during this time of year?

A lot of people during this time let go of some of the personal boundaries and relationships that they have within the family. So where they may have at other times been able to establish in a certain way, "I'm not OK with this," or "Oh no, I'm not interested in this" — all of a sudden when the holidays come in, for whatever reason, it seems like there's a tendency to go along with everything as opposed to saying, "No, I'm unable to do this," or "I can't attend that party."

Sometimes the counsel is you try to set aside your differences with family members, at least for that short period of time that you're together. Is that a good strategy in terms of trying to accept family members as they are, or not?

When the holidays are around, you're kind of forced into a situation and there's not a lot of maybe freedom or mobility in that space to be able to have a constructive conversation. So I generally would say that it's probably best to be able to avoid some of those more triggering subjects. The other piece that's sometimes important there, too, is to maybe think ahead about what those triggers are going to be, and create what I call the canned responses that might be able to de-escalate the situation.

What's an example of a canned response?

It might be saying something along the lines of, "Oh, that's really interesting. We should talk about that maybe later." Or, "Oh, I haven't heard of that before or thought about it like that. I'm going to think about it and I'll get back to you another time." Things that allow for a civil environment when you're at these chaotic family events or staff events.

I think we get caught up in this loop within our society that we have to push through all the struggles that we might be having. In situations like this, where there's not necessarily a lot of freedom or ability to negotiate just because of the circumstances, sometimes it is OK to avoid. And maybe you can plan to talk to that family member later on when there's less pressure of the holidays.

If you want to carve out a little time for yourself at a stressful holiday dinner, Joshua Peters, clinical manager at the Centre for Interpersonal Relationships in Toronto, suggests strategies like forgetting to bring food. 'On the day of, when everyone's there, you get to take a quick 20-minute drive by yourself to go pick up the cranberries,' he says. (Shutterstock)

What about technology at this time of year — does it help or hinder? Because, I mean, in one sense it allows us to connect with family that may be far away during this holiday season. But is it also a barrier to building kind of healthy relationships when you're in the same room together?

As a therapist, I want to kind of sit in that middle ground space and probably say that it's both. Being able to take advantage of some of the abilities that there is with social media to connect with others — maybe it's in that space of feeling a little lonely during the holidays and wanting to connect.

What I oftentimes see though is almost like an overconsumption of social media. So it's usually best to limit the amount of time that you're on social media. Another strategy that I've seen a lot of success with when I look at my clients is they'll actually get rid of the social media apps and they'll just have the internet browser that they allow themselves to log into. So there isn't that constant feeling of having those notifications hitting you with those Hallmark moments.

How do you deal with the stress of the holidays in your own life?

One of the biggest strategies I often use is that I give myself some space to take some time. I had a decision even in my own life about whether or not I wanted to stay in one particular family unit for the entirety of the holidays, or whether I wanted to come home, take some time to relax. Being able to take two days in between ... really allowed me to relax.

I'll oftentimes encourage clients to think of little — I don't want to call them excuses, but I'll say that — ways of being able to take a bit of a break from your family. Maybe it's making sure that you don't actually get the cranberries for the dinner and on the day of, when everyone's there, you get to take a quick 20-minute drive by yourself to go pick up the cranberries.

A little bit of Josh time made it easier for you, huh?

Oh yeah, definitely. I need that space, I think just like anyone else.