Waiting for a Forest Hills train, Micah Levine said her election stress this year is high, “like an 8 or 9” on a scale of 10.
To cope, she said she voted early and cut back on her news intake.
“A lot of what I’m doing is just kind of trying to engage with hobbies that I liked, so that I can reset my brain a little bit,” she said.
Many people are experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety this election season — and it’s more widespread than prior years, according to the American Psychological Association. Mental health experts say that long-lasting stress can take a toll on health.
A recent survey by the APA found that 82% of adults felt the current election season has been an “emotional rollercoaster,” and 25% of those surveyed said election stress had kept them awake at night.
GBH News talked to voters and mental health experts who agree: This election has been hard.
“Certainly the polarization seems to be increasing,” said Aude Henin, a clinical psychologist at Mass General Hospital. “The stress of the politics, and of the division, and of the extreme language that’s being used, adds up.”
One result? People feel tired, Henin said. And that stress fatigue sets people up for heightened inflammation that can have adverse long-term health consequences.
That tiredness, however, doesn’t necessarily translate into sleep. Some therapists have said they are seeing patients with “electsomnia” caused by political anxiety.
And even the professionals are feeling the strain of this election season. Ashwini Nadkarni, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, said she’s been “personally taken aback by this election cycle and some of the language that is being used out there to collect votes.”
“I’m just genuinely troubled,” she said. “And there’s no question what I feel our patients are feeling as well.”
Nadkarni said she advises people that it’s important not to worry alone. And she said it’s helpful to take stock of what could be driving any fear.
“When we consider what’s in the air right now, I think that there’s a lot of fears about, you know, the possibility of the end of democracy, the violence that may result in this election cycle or even some sort of existential fear about our country,” she said.
That understanding can help a person gain a sense of agency; political outcomes may be beyond an individual’s control, but “we do have control over ourselves,” she said. “We can control how we react.”
That may mean getting involved politically, or doing something as simple as drinking more water.
Back at Forest Hills train station, Berklee College of Music students Brandon Garrison and Trinity Johnson said they’ve been busy with their studies and somewhat disconnected from the twists and turns of this election season.
Garrison, 23, said he just wants to see a peaceful outcome once the votes are counted.
“I think it’s very unfortunate when we let things like political parties divide us,” he said. “At the end of the day, no matter what your beliefs are, we’re all just people.”
Johnston said she voted early and this election season, her strategy is simple: she said she’s putting her faith in God.
