You toss and turn in bed. You don’t want to pick up your phone or turn on the TV—but you can’t look away. You avoid friends and family. And you’re plagued by an ever-present dread that catastrophe is ahead.
You have election anxiety.
In the final days of a contentious presidential race, Americans are being bombarded with wall-to-wall campaign coverage. And from political junkies to voting novices, the high-volume vitriol—from cable news, social media and even our own kitchen tables—is having an effect on our mental health. According to the American Psychological Association, nearly 70 percent of Americans said the 2024 presidential election was a “significant” source of stress in their lives.
But while the outcome of this race is certainly important, George Washington University Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology Katherine Marshall Woods reminds election watchers that their own mental and physical wellbeing is just as crucial.
“Is this election worth your health?” said Woods, a licensed clinical psychologist with the Professional Psychology Program at the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. “Taking care of yourself, despite all that is happening around you, is the most important aspect of this experience.”
We are inundated with the understanding that this election in particular has consequences—positive and/or negative—to our own personal lives. And because it’s been made so personal, the level of anxiety has also increased.
If you’re feeling stressed about the election, it’s really important that you take a moment to self-evaluate what you need during this time. The election is only a moment in time. Yes, it will have consequences for all of us. However, at the end of the day, this actual experience—this unknown—will be settled in a couple of days.
So determine what you need in order to feel healthy. Do you need support? Do you need to be around others who are actively concerned and anxious too? Maybe having others to commiserate with makes you feel more comforted and less alone.
Do you need to allot a specific amount of time to think about the election and engage with media outlets? And then do you need to give yourself a break from that experience and engage in activities outside of the election?
The question is: Can you keep your hand on the pulse—but in a different way?
Our anxieties are generally released through action. Are there concrete ways to become involved? For example, can you knock on people’s doors? Can you make cold calls or send postcards? Then, when this election is over, you’ll know you managed your anxiety in a way that helped motivate your communities in the direction you feel was most desirable.
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