Managing Political Anxiety in a Contentious Election Cycle

This blog is authored by Ray White, MA, LPC, a member of the IntraSpectrum Counseling clinical team.

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Whether you’re terminally online or taking a break from social media and the news, you’re likely aware of the ongoing political climate and upcoming presidential election. Over the last couple of months, every week has felt like a year of news. And with Chicago having hosted the DNC this campaign cycle, national political news has center-stage here locally.

The 2024 election cycle started earlier than ever, and the entire campaign has created an influx in awareness. Identity politics are becoming the norm, divisiveness is felt among family and neighbors, and for folks viscerally affected by policy their survival is intrinsically tied to their political awareness. In 2024 alone, the Trans Legislation Tracker currently cites 652 anti-trans bills with 45 being passed already and 123 currently active (as of 9/11/2024).

This is one example of many that is easy to list when we find our thoughts racing or ourselves catastrophizing. It’s perfectly understandable that the ever-changing news landscape and social media has the potential to impact mental and physical health. Here I hope to speak as a psychotherapist to that impact, validate people’s concerns, and maybe provide a prompt that could be useful in mitigating some political anxiety (while recognizing that healing is holistic and more than a bag of tricks).

• Social media is a significant factor that can affect mental health. Misogyny, racism, transphobia, queer phobia, and other forms of hate are not new to folks familiar with being online and have been rising over the past several years:
  • The increase in anger, calcification, and social isolation can’t be denied, and it can be natural to protect ourselves through these defensive coping skills. There can be a sense of comfort via familiarity within echo chambers and in loneliness. It can be more difficult, especially when overwhelmed, to use proactive coping skills. We might want to limit our social media use and experience barriers when doing so. To avoid some barriers, we can turn to mindfulness and seek intentionality when we’re online. To ask yourself “what am I looking for?” or “what am I feeling right now?” to better understand if you’re angry, bored, looking for validation, or experiencing insomnia.
  • Studies show that it is more difficult to limit or take a break from social media when you’re trying it by yourself, so maybe talk to a friend or someone whose willing to be a sort of accountability buddy for you, or make an agreement with others that you all will try to limit your screen time. At the end of the day it’s about what works for you personally whether that’s changing your phone setting to black-and-white colors, turning the sound off, only checking work emails when at work, or use an app designed to help limit phone usage (ex: Forest, Digital Detox) or timers that notify you when you’ve been on IG longer than intended.
• To speak more to the theme of community, opposite-action can help us avoid self-isolating, which often amplifies our anxiety and depression. Especially for LGBTQ+ folks, community and found family is a significant form of support. Reach out to friends and trusted ones whether you’re creating space to vent or to distract yourselves from the news, it can be as simple as texting “hey, how’s your week going?” If you’re looking to process the anger and feel control over the uncertainty, take action. Whether that’s protesting policies that don’t align with your values, knocking on doors in support of your preferred candidate, driving people to local polls, or volunteering for a local non-political organization (food bank, art walk, pet shelter, etc). The important thing is to check-in with your values and make decisions and choices that align with your beliefs. While this can seem like the harder path, it can have a more impactful effect on general anxiety and depression.
• As a note for folks who have experienced trauma: safety and security is necessary for healing. A sense of choice and control can allow us to feel as though we have a foundation to build on. And when we fear the future, are experiencing existential uncertainty and anxiety, and feel hopeless; it can make our anxiety and/or depression seems like a permanent unchanging condition that we have no control over. Additionally, as justice sensitivity is associated with neurodivergent and marginalized folks, these populations can specifically struggle with climate inaction and overwhelming humanitarian crises. These things are real and what you are feeling is real. The moment might feel precarious, urgent, and intense. This can increase stuckness and loneliness.

Bringing all this into therapy
When the political climate is exacerbating mental health challenges it can help to bring it into therapy. A therapist can help us refresh coping skills (no shame in grounding, establishing safety, or recognizing our cognitive distortions!). It can be helpful to have an hour to spend time with our emotions and bring awareness to what we’re noticing when unpacking political stress. Perhaps it’s helpful to reflect on “What is the purpose of staying up-to-date?,” “What messages are reinforcing our beliefs?,” “Are there barriers to taking a break from social media or the news?” Maybe we feel bad or selfish spending time on ourselves with everything going on in the world, which can be something to unpack in therapy. What you discuss will look different depending on who you are, what your beliefs and goals are, and how everything in the world is activating you.

So this is the tip of an iceberg. Politics have the potential to touch every aspect of our life. And our lives can be messy, not because we’re necessarily doing anything wrong or bad, but because we’re lovely, messy creatures containing complex emotions, nervous systems, and physical limitations. We need to sleep and rest and challenge the pervasive cultural messages we receive about constant productivity and individually being responsible for not just ourselves but the entire world. Whether you find yourself texting a friend, volunteering, or throwing your phone in the lake (a joke and definitely not something I consider doing every day); take care of yourself and each other! If you have any questions about voting, vote.org is a great resource and you can check if you are registered to vote here!

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This blog is authored by Ray White, MA, LPC, a member of the IntraSpectrum Counseling clinical team. IntraSpectrum Counseling is Chicago’s leading psychotherapy practice dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community, and we strive to provide the highest quality mental health care for multicultural, identity, kink, polyamorous, and intersectional issues. For anyone needing affirming and validating support, please click here or contact us at help@intraspectrum-chicago.com.