Tucson

Local opinion The ABCs of post-election mental health

T.Johnson28 min ago

This election was particularly hard on Americans' psyche. It seemed a clash of not just competing ideologies but contending worldviews, with Armageddon to ensue should the opposing side prevail. That's a lot to add to all the usual stressors of life. So it's not surprising that according to the American Psychological Association, 69% of all adults polled cited the election as a source of anxiety. For about half of that number, things are probably going to get a whole lot worse in the coming days, psychically speaking. While the uptick in clients this entails will be appreciated by my fellow therapists, there is a lot you can do on your own to deal with the aftermath of the election. Here is a list of strategies along with some resources to go along with each.

A: Allow yourself to grieve. Yes, grieve. While many think grief is only felt around death, the fact is any loss can trigger grief: divorce, unemployment, moving, and, yes, an election. Grief needs to be processed, so find some way to express your emotion, whether through talking or writing or painting. Also remember, a grief shared is half a grief. For a book, I would recommend David Kessler's Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief.

B: Be kind to yourself. We often avoid our feelings, including grief, by engaging in destructive activities: binge-watching, overworking, substance abuse. Instead, make a special effort to engage in self-care, whether that consists in a massage, a round of golf, or buying yourself something nice. Perhaps Kristin Neff's: Mindful Self-Compassion.

C: Deploy coping strategies. When outrage and contempt at the incoming administration strikes, and they will, it is important to regulate these distressing emotions rather than take them out on someone (or worse, yourself). Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a practical intervention that offers specific practices to develop this skill, everything from breathing exercises (breathe out for longer than you breathe in) to distractions to self-soothing with the senses (using, say, calming music to downregulate the nervous system). Read: The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook.

D: Meditate. Twenty-five hundred years of experience and forty years of research have demonstrated the effectiveness of meditation as a tool for calming mind and body. While many think meditation an esoteric practice that involves unusual body positions and the burning of strange-smelling incense, it is in fact a scientifically validated exercise with an array of demonstrated health benefits that you can perform seated in a chair, lying in a bed, or even standing up. Here I will recommend an app: Waking Up.

E: Examine your thoughts. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy tells us that our distressing emotions are often caused by our thoughts. When emotional distress arises, ask yourself, "what am I telling myself that is causing this distress?" And then ask, "Is this thought accurate?" Consider telling yourself the more likely, "The sun will rise tomorrow no matter who the next president is" as opposed to the hyperbolic, "This election is the end of civilization." A good book on this topic is: Feeling Good by David Burns.

F: Focus on what's important. One way to work with distressing emotions is to focus our energy instead on the areas of our lives that truly matter: our families, our friends, our careers, our community, our spirituality. This is the strategy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, arguably the most evidence-based intervention of the last quarter century. More energy dedicated towards constructive and meaningful goals means we have less space to devote to the inevitable emotional ups and downs of life. Read: Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life by Stephen Hayes.

G: Get gratitude. A host of research studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of daily acknowledging what we are thankful for in our lives. In one study, students who wrote gratitude letters reported better mental health than those who wrote about negative experiences or who simply journaled. A good tool to start this practice is, The Five-Minute Gratitude Journal.

H:Get help. Finally, if none of the above is particularly useful, please get help. The Psychology Today therapist website lists therapists in your area.

Peter Vernezze PhD, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist living in Tucson.

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