The Epidemic of Worry
October 25, 2016 6:18 AM   Subscribe

"Spiraling worry is the perverted underside of rationality." - David Brooks in a new NYT Opinion Pages piece.

People are talking about "election anxiety" in the U.S. (sources 1, 2, 3, and 4) a lot this year.

But the truth is, "anxiety is the most common mental illness in the U.S." (source). While it's super exciting that people are talking more openly about their anxiety, I wonder if the election is really "causing" their anxiety, or simply exacerbating already-present (possibly subclinical?) symptoms. It will be interesting to see if this increased openness continues post-election.
posted by schroedingersgirl (9 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Sorry, but we're keeping election discussion in the election thread, and while a post on anxiety could work, this one is specifically about the election and conversation has already become about that. Maybe post this main link over there, or contact us to discuss possible edits / repost on the anxiety topic. -- taz



 
Finally, a hot trend I was on top of ahead of everybody else.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 6:24 AM on October 25, 2016 [4 favorites]


Turns out it's a moral failing!
posted by thelonius at 6:37 AM on October 25, 2016 [6 favorites]


A week ago I deactivated my Facebook account and within days I felt my anxiety level drop. I'd unfollowed and unfriended numerous people due to their toxic political posts and I realized that even the well-reasoned posts with facts and defendable positions were causing me a great deal of anxiety. Who needs that?
posted by photoslob at 6:38 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


Our only two options are sickening anxiety or willful ignorance.

How sweet to be an idiot.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:46 AM on October 25, 2016


Alfred E Neuman is the man.
posted by srboisvert at 6:47 AM on October 25, 2016


This election has also presented members of the educated class with an awful possibility: that their pleasant social strata may rest on unstable molten layers of anger, bigotry and instability. How could this guy Trump get even 40 percent of the votes? America may be not quite the country we thought it was.

I am un-sarcastically glad that the message finally found its way all the way up there to the peanut gallery, David. Now you just need to figure out that your "pleasant social strata" aren't really that different below the veneer. Then we can get to work, yes?

I'd unfollowed and unfriended numerous people due to their toxic political posts and I realized that even the well-reasoned posts with facts and defendable positions were causing me a great deal of anxiety.

I have a similar thing with Twitter. I took an unplanned Lenten break from it and my mental health and focus improved 1000%. I tried coming back with a yuge set of keyword and hashtag filters, and it didn't help. I'm thinking of leaving again, but I have so many friends there and can't quite bear the thought of leaving them.
posted by middleclasstool at 6:48 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


facts and defendable positions were causing me a great deal of anxiety

this is actually a normal human reaction -- hearing contrary opinions induces a stress response.

This campaign will soon be over, and governing, thank God, will soon return.

Should the GOP retain the House, I fully expect a total shitshow again like 2011-2012, with a high probability of us not even having a fully functional federal goverment -- like the Gingrich shutdown 20 years ago and the Tea Party bullshit leading into 2012.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 6:51 AM on October 25, 2016


If the next president starts enacting a slew of actual policies, then at least we can argue about concrete plans, rather than vague apocalyptic moods. This campaign will soon be over, and governing, thank God, will soon return.

Yes, once President Hillary Clinton takes office, the Republicans in Congress will say "why, that Kenyan usurper is finally gone, so now we can end our long war of obstruction and allow her to pass her agenda in full!"
posted by delfin at 6:52 AM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]


Criticizing David Brooks is like shooting fish in a barrel. His recent turn toward Mr. Common Sense Morality Guy has muddled his thinking but also made it less pleasant to attack him and his writing. He's not as "wrong" any more. But America (and the West in general) has not suddenly entered the Age of Anxiety (the name of a 60-year old work by W.H. Auden) because of this election. American's consumption of medication/drugs to dull our anxiety and depression is just one sign that we are not only unbalanced, but are unable to use more viable tools to deal with our angst.

But this: This campaign will soon be over, and governing, thank God, will soon return. The resumption of politics as usual in the USA is hardly something to praise the Lord about, unless you are Mr. Status Quo comfortably ensconced in the Gray Lady's manse.
posted by kozad at 6:56 AM on October 25, 2016


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