How are you doing in this presidential campaign?
How are you doing in this presidential campaign? For some, the tension and anxiety associated with it can escalate and trigger results.
This election season is having a negative impact on the mental health of many people, including us. We began to discuss our experiences, building on our knowledge of empirically supported strategies for coping with anxiety and stress. We realized that this was very relevant to our experience of choice and we thought it would be helpful to create an interactive medium where we can bring our own experiences and share how we can better take care of our well-being during this stressful time.
This campaign could turn out to be one of the most contested and divided in recent history. As rhetoric mounts, online and television advertising dominates airtime and cyberspace, and propaganda machines continue to dump questionable content on social media platforms, protecting our mental health is now more critical than ever. There's no question that this moment in history is incredibly tense and vital, and you may have to deal with both the short-term and long-term mental health effects.
Social media feels more personal because political messages are mixed with personal messages. Its seems lik phone is now part of our body, and it feels like being physically bombarded by as we engages in political affairs on social media. If your party or candidate is attacked, your personal defenses will be put forward and our bodies don't necessarily know the difference between being chased by a tiger, for example, and being insulted by a social media post, for example.
What can you do to minimize your anxiety this election season?
While it may seem like electoral stress is unavoidable right now, there are a few things you can do to stay healthy and grounded during this tense time.
Connect with your loved ones (outside of social media if possible). One of the best ways to counter long-term stress and anxiety is to communicate with friends and loved ones during your times of anxiety.
Get out and move. Move in and out when faced with election stress. When we exercise and spend time in sunlight, our bodies produce hormones and chemicals that have been shown to improve our moods and alter brain chemistry, making us more resistant to stress and less anxious.
Write your racing thoughts. When we get anxious, our thoughts are like running away with us. Writing down our thoughts and feelings slows them down and allows us to look at them more logically.
Treat everyone with respect. Admire everyone you meet with respect and basic humanity. Whether you agree with them or not, they are people like you, and when you look at another person with respect, your self-esteem increases. Although it can be difficult to get along with friends and family who are not on the same side of the political fence as you, being respectful and being a little nice can go a long way toward healing the huge gap you create in the present. in today's culture and can help you connect with people in meaningful ways. After all, life is more than politics.
Look at the content you consume. Although you may like social media, these are the places where misinformation and deception spread the most. Consider a media diet and focus on getting the facts from reliable sources. Regardless of what you read, it's best to look up one or two other sources to verify the story. In this way you avoid conflicts with yourself and with others.
Exercise your right to vote, choose carefully and always take care of your health.
- M
