"The groundwork of all happiness is health." - Leigh Hunt

Feeling political anxiety? Here are coping strategies that a psychologist shares along with his clients.

I started practicing psychotherapy. Thirty years passed before anxiety about politics became a medical problem for any of my clients in the course of the Reagan administration.

I remember the moment it first happened: a protracted voicemail from a distraught woman requesting treatment for anxiety and depression in response to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential election. I listened twice to be sure that I hadn't missed anything. I didn't have it. There were no other problems. This woman wanted a cure for political anxiety.

This was a brand new one for me and for each therapist I knew. But now I see no sign of this clinical challenge ending.

Political polarization is on the rise in America. The highest level ever. A growing majority of each Republicans and Democrats say they consider it. Members of the other party Being ignorant, dishonest and immoral.

What I’m calling political anxiety is a bipartisan mental health issue. It is predicated on the assumption that since the country is within the hands of bad leaders, terrible things can occur. Many people experience intense fear about what may be on the opposite side. Both Republicans and Democrats have faced this problem, but it surely peaks at different times for the 2 parties, depending on who won the last election.

We psychotherapists wish to base our interventions on research-based strategies which have been tested in clinical trials or, if not, a minimum of strategies which have the clinical expertise of the master therapists who wrote the classic books. Based on None of that is how you can take care of political anxiety.

But therapists cannot tell a client with anxiety that future research is required before we may help them. Instead, we draw from what is understood to best handle related problems. This is the recommendation I share with my clients who’re frightened in regards to the way the world works.

Taking a protracted view

Information about American history is relevant to political anxiety because, psychologically, people evaluate their circumstances. Comparing them with anchors or principles. You compare current risks and dangers with the risks you’ve faced and faced previously.

A Democrat comparing today's America to the country of a decade ago might feel sad. But broader comparisons can produce a more grounded, calmer perspective.

The Great Depression within the Thirties brought mass unemployment. Here, in New York, hundreds of individuals line up hoping for a job.
UPI/Bettmann Archive via Getty Images

America has faced great trials and tribulations throughout its history. The country has proven itself to be a resilient democracy. A basic knowledge of the Civil War, the Great Depression, and World War II results in the conclusion that the present political moment shouldn’t be the one dangerous time our republic has ever faced.

The wisdom of the Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to just accept the things I cannot change, the courage to vary the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

A bronze colored sign inscribed with a prayer for peace.
Change what you possibly can, recognize what you possibly can't.
Jerry 'Woody' / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

gave A prayer of peace There is an efficient summary of research on coping. As I argue in my book “Finding Goldilocks“The famous quote identifies two basic strategies and tells you which of them to make use of when. People need strength to vary what may be modified and serenity to just accept what can't be. Political anxiety, like many tensions, calls for a mix of each tactics.

Doing what you possibly can means putting political anxiety into political motion, including voting, volunteering, donating money and serving as a poll employee. Can one person's actions make a difference? They could make a difference in an individual's price. You can't do the whole lot, but you possibly can do something.

Also, taking motion on an issue, even when it doesn't result in an answer, Often relieves painEspecially if it brings you along with like-minded people.

Once you've done what you possibly can, it's necessary to acknowledge how much is out of your control: the entire world isn't in your shoulders alone. Then you possibly can in good conscience turn your attention to the nice things in your personal life.

This helps limit your consumption of political news. After a certain point, you're not learning anything latest and just fueling your personal frustration.

A man with a head in his hand with a large inscription on his head.
Imagining the worst may be step one toward moving past anxiety.
Rob Dubey/Moment via Getty Images

The best things in life will not be political.

A basic tool of cognitive therapy for anxiety is asking the query, “What's the worst thing? “Could it possibly be?” This question isn't meant to make anxious people think about worst-case scenarios — they already do — but to shift their thought processes toward the picture of their worst fears. How can you escape? It's a strange thing. Effective type of assurance.

Democrats imagine that one other Donald Trump administration will hurt people. But with necessary exceptions – akin to undocumented immigrants who can. Be exiled – When many individuals attempt to picture how their lives can be affected in specific, concrete, serious ways, they typically don't say much.

That doesn't mean something bad won't occur. This means that you would be able to potentially address anything you do. While Trump's policies could also be unlucky and even infuriating for those on the opposite side of the aisle, they’re unlikely to be devastating on a direct, day-to-day level for giant groups of individuals.

A wider perspective will remind you that democracy is one. Rare in the history of the world. For most civilizations, people have lived under monarchies or some type of oppression, and most of them managed to survive.

I’m not suggesting that folks withdraw from the political world. I imagine it will be important to arise for what you think is true. My advice is don't placed on your rose coloured glasses and retreat into your protected space, remainder of the world be damned.

But necessary Sources of human well-being There are family, friends, meaningful work, hobbies, arts, nature, spirituality and acts of kindness. None of them rely on the political system. We can combat political anxiety by falling back on the finer things in life.