Feeling anxious concerning the upcoming midterm elections? You’re not alone. Prior to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, greater than two-thirds of Americans surveyed reported that the election was a big supply of rigidity of their lives. People throughout the political spectrum felt anxious, together with 76 % of Democrats, 67 % of Republicans, and 64 % of Independents.
Take Action and Vote!
“The best action to take for election anxiety? Volunteer, talk to people about the issues that matter most to you, and vote!” says medical psychologist Tamar E. Chansky, Ph.D.
The American Psychological Association affords the next extra evidence-based recommendation:
- Uncertainty is demanding, so don’t dwell on issues you possibly can’t management. Avoid imagining worst-case eventualities.
- Focus on what you possibly can management. Monitor your media consumption, and restrict extremely charged content material.
- Engage in actions or points which are significant to you.
- Stay socially related. Spend time with family and friends.
- Stay bodily energetic.
- Realize that you simply won’t know the election outcomes instantly. Keep busy with different actions and social assist, so that you aren’t frequently checking for “bad news.”
Recognizing Tension
Stress impacts us in a wide range of methods. “We notice it in our bodies, the tension in our shoulders,” mentioned Robert Bright, MD, a psychiatrist on the Mayo Clinic, of the stress main as much as the October 2020 presidential election. “Sometimes people get GI [gastrointestinal] upset or headaches. People have trouble sleeping. There’s a lot of sleep disturbance going on right now — tossing, turning, and worrying, and not being able to get to sleep — or having bad dreams about the election.”
Dr. Bright added that tv, radio, and social media adverts flood us with catastrophic messages concerning the candidates that heighten our sense of tension and might really feel overwhelming. “And it affects our emotions after a while. So, we start getting irritable and short, and snapping at people, not trusting people, seeing people as [either] the other or as the same. And that starts affecting our relationships at home. It starts affecting our work.”
“Our stress level is something we need to take seriously,” says Dr. Chansky. “Many of us never got that much-needed re-set from the earlier years of the pandemic. And we’re also still dealing with ongoing COVID cases, climate crises, war, and disruption. Even if these events don’t seem to be affecting us directly, we’re still processing them — and our emotional and physical resources are being strained.”
Check Your Facts and Have Hope
“Compartmentalization is a key skill for emotional well-being,” Dr. Chansky says. “Particularly when one thing is inflicting us ongoing stress, it doesn’t assist to consider it on a regular basis. But it does serve us to deal with it at designated instances — what we could consider as ‘worry appointments.’
“At those times, write out your feelings about the election and fact-check them against what you know,” Dr. Chansky advises. Choose to have hope, she suggests, even when it’s not your pure inclination. Hope isn’t about imagining a specific election end result. Rather, it’s a lifestyle and a continuing dedication to not quit.
For extra details about psychological well being, self-care methods, and the place to seek out assist, go to ibx.com/knowyourmind.