How politics is stressing us out more than ever
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The 2024 election cycle may be remembered for redefining anxiety and drawing attention to the unique way politics stresses Americans out.
Why it matters: Pitched partisanship, razor-thin margins, political violence and a barrage of ads have measurable health effects, including high levels of stress-related hormone in the body that can lead to weight gain, diabetes, heart disease and more.
State of play: Experts say the emotional reactions to rallies, debates and nonstop ads transcend generalized anxiety — already the most common mental health diagnosis in the U.S.
- The physical symptoms are similar but their causes are different.
- Generalized anxiety disorder can come on gradually and sometimes for no apparent reason, whereas political stress is specifically associated with an election or other political activities, and it presents even in people who don't report feeling generally anxious.
By the numbers: More than one-third of 1,700 marriage and family therapists surveyed in September described the election-related stress as "more severe" compared with other types of anxiety.
- Almost half of the therapists surveyed by the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists described excessive worry and strained family relationships as byproducts of election stress.
- The toll in the last three cycles has been especially hard on younger voters.
- 32% of Americans ages 18-34 reported feeling both nervous and scared about the upcoming election in a poll from American University published last month.
There's also evidence politics could be sending more people to the hospital with life-threatening events. Kaiser Permanente found that hospitalizations for heart attack, stroke and heart failure were 17% higher in the five days after the 2020 election than in a five-day period two weeks prior.
- "Anxiety has physical manifestations. It creates actual physical health problems in people," said Jayme Renfro, an associate professor at the University of Northern Iowa who studies biology and politics.
- "There does seem to be something in people, as social beings, about politics ... that really hits some deep inside of their souls," she said. "When that gets messed with, it really freaks a lot of people out."
Between the lines: Experts say politics can be particularly hard to block out, not just because of all the noise but because of the way it shapes social interactions and one's individual identity.
- Campaigns can be uniquely shared experiences, drawing together like-minded people but also fomenting conflict between groups, the American Psychological Association's Monitor on Psychology notes.
- "The volatility of the rhetoric has gotten people down so terribly that they've lost the ability to be curious with each other, and that is really distressing," said Elisabeth LaMotte, a D.C.-based marriage and family therapist.
What we're watching: University of Nebraska professor Kevin B. Smith is currently studying whether short-term interventions like mindfulness exercises can diffuse political stress.
- Not paying attention to politics mitigates its negative effects on people's well-being, Smith said.
- But while a politics cleanse "might be good for an individual's mental health ... it's not good for our collective civic health."
