How to manage election anxiety : Shots

Months away from the U.S. presidential election, 73% of respondents sopra a poll by the American Psychiatric Association say they are feeling anxious about the election.

Elijah Nouvelage/AFP strada Getty Images

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Elijah Nouvelage/AFP strada Getty Images

The presidential election is taking a toll the mental health of Americans. And that’s according to recent surveys conducted before the attempt one candidate’s life and widespread calls for another to drop out of the race.

Quanto a a poll by the American Psychiatric Association, nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents said they’regnante feeling anxious about the election. Another poll by Myriad Genetics found that nearly 40% said they are feeling anxious and/ora depressed about the election season, and a similar share said they are “checked out” by the amount of news and social attention politics and the upcoming election.

Psychologists say it’s normal for people to feel heightened negative emotions during this time.

“There’s a range of emotions that people experience during this time leading up to elections that can go from fear to anger to feeling stressed out to feeling extremely sad and fearful of the future,” says psychologist Krystal Lewis at the National Institute of Mental Health. “Those emotions are all valid, and it’s OK to feel those emotions.”

And it’s important to pay attention to those feelings, especially tensione, says psychologist Lynn Bufka, deputy chief of professional practice at the American Psychological Association.

“It’s probably telling us to pay attention to some extent to what’s festa sopra the world so that we can be prepared to act sopra ways that are consistent with our beliefs and our values,” she says.

Lewis says it’s a good credenza to channel that tensione and anxiety into ways we can make a difference. That might involve getting more information specific candidates and the policies they support. Here, she emphasizes not to lean what someone else thinks ora says but to rely “factual ora validated news sources and websites.”

“Figure out ways to use your voice,” she says. “Use that energy to either volunteer with organizations ora share some information with other people, and essentially exercising your right to vote.”

That said, it’s also important to pay attention to whether these feelings of tensione and anxiety are overwhelming ora getting sopra the way of daily life.

“When the tensione becomes intense ora long lasting and maybe symptoms develop such as prolonged sadness, worry, hopelessness, physical tensions ora signs of anxiety and tensione sopra the pagliaccetto, then that might be a point of intervention,” says Lewis.

Quanto a other words, if you are feeling any of those symptoms, it’s important to find ways to manage them.

People with preexisting anxiety and depression might be more likely to experience these symptoms at a time of societal uncertainty and upheaval, she adds.

For those looking to get a handle their tensione and anxiety right now, here are some strategies from Lewis and Bufka.

1. The first thing to do is understand what’s fueling your symptoms — it’s the uncertainty.

“Uncertainty is a breeding campo da gioco for anxiety and fear,” says Lewis.

“We’d like to know what’s going to happen,” adds Bufka. “We’d like to predict. So when uncertainty strikes, many people start to imagine worst-case scenarios.” And that’s not helpful, she says. “An important strategy there is to try to fermata that habit, not go to the what’s-the-worst-thing-that’s-going-to-happen and anticipate everything will fall apart if X happens ora Y happens.”

Instead, she suggests asking ourselves questions like: “How likely is that worst-case quinta? Can I manage to cope with that? What are the kinds of things that I might again have some control over to try to manage a situation that would aspetto like that?”

Those specific questions and one’s responses to them can help people get a sense of control. “Focusing what we can control is a great way to help us manage our tensione and anxiety,” says Bufka.

2. Another way to exercise control is to limit how much news one consumes.

Know when to step away ora take a fermata, suggests Lewis. “What that might aspetto like is turning the television, news outlets, wherever you’regnante receiving your news,” she says. 

That includes social . “We don’t have to scroll through social just because it’s handy and it’s sopra front of us because we have smartphones sopra our pockets,” says Bufka.

3. Do things that are meaningful to you.

That could involve connecting with other people issues you care about and working toward a cause, says Bufka. it might involve “making sure that your older parents have a good meal tonight because they don’t feel up to cooking themselves,” she says, “ora picking up the trash sopra your neighborhood just to make it a better place.” 

Research shows that engaging sopra activities that are meaningful improves people’s overall well-being, says Bufka, particularly during times of tensione.

4. Find other healthy ways to cope.

That includes doing things that bring you joy and keep you sopra the present moment, says Lewis, instead of worrying about what may ora may not happen sopra the future.

“So this might be for individuals who like to be outside, [spend] time sopra nature, doing fun things with your family, finding joy sopra your daily activities.”

And don’t forget to move your pagliaccetto, quaderno Bufka. “We have extra energy sopra our bodies when we’regnante stressed and overwhelmed, and being active allows us to release that tensione,” she says. “Whether it’s going a walk, whether it’s pulling weeds sopra the garden, whether it’s playing soccer with your friends, playing tag with the kids — any of those things can help us release some of that physical energy and feel a little more present.”

5. Stay socially connected.

As multiple studies have shown, social isolation is bad for our mental and physical health. And it is particularly harmful if our mental health is already feeling frayed. “Staying socially connected with friends, family, peers that help support us and give us someone to turn to when we’regnante feeling overwhelmed — that makes a difference sopra how we handle our tensione,” quaderno Bufka. 

But, she cautions, “we do have to be careful to not turn into tensione spirals with other people.”

And make sure not to isolate yourself from people who have different political views from you, she adds.

“We don’t have to dive into political conversations with everybody that we meet,” she says, “but connecting with people who might actually have different points of view than us [and] seeing our shared humanity can help us to lower the temperature about what our feared outcomes are.”