Politics and the upcoming election have been good for my business but quite unfortunate for our society. Many of our patients are looking for relief from anxiety, depression, and anger and ultimately wind up talking about the election. It is now difficult to find a therapist who has availability as well as takes insurance.
Many patients are confused about what they are hearing and seeing. In fact, they report different interpretations of the same event because of how it has been spun by the campaigns and the media.
I have seen long-term couples break up or hold grudges against each other because of who they have decided to vote for. Other patients report outright refusal to see or talk with co-workers or relatives because of their election choices.
Truth and respect have become early casualties of the different campaigns with personal attacks, made up stories, and outright manipulations of the candidates and voters. It is easy to blame a specific candidate for this but in reality, in my opinion, they all at least exaggerate the truth if not outright lie.
Repetition of the same paid political ads only seems to wear down people’s resistance and can have a numbing and conditioning effect on our thought processes.
It is like brainwashing in that if you are told the same lie over and over, a person tends to believe it, especially if endorsed by a media figure. The more shocking the political ads, the more attention they seem to get.
Rightly or wrongly so, our patients’ emotional states have escalated with reported feelings of powerlessness, fear, and anger. The question of “what can I do” is followed by a shrug of the shoulders and a reluctant acceptance of the current situation.
Ironically, as a psychologist, I work to empower my patients with new ways of thinking and behaving to resolve their problems and deescalate their negative feelings. We work towards avoiding harmful, negative situations and learning how to handle them when they occur.
We model respect for ourselves and for others. We develop strategies to deal with difficult people and situations and develop ways to handle the anxiety, anger, and frustration. We encourage telling the truth and having kindness and respect for others.
It is also the time that each of us individually need to take the responsibility of bettering society by how we live and by being an example of respect and decency. We cannot wait for society’s leaders and influencers to set an example because they haven’t yet and probably won’t.
It is my belief that only each of us can repair the world in our way.
The current political and societal climate have given us a lot of work to do.
Comments? Let me know at [email protected].
