Election-Induced Anxiety

A mere two days before the 2020 Presidential Election, the anxiety people are experiencing is palpable. Many of my patients have been talking about their fears about the election and what may happen immediately following, with much anticipation of riots and acts of violence and aggression. The news is reporting a significant increase in the number of purchases of firearms. Add to that the fact that we are in the midst of a global pandemic. Cases of COVID-19 are surging as the temperatures are dropping and it is getting darker much earlier as we approach the winter months. People are struggling to keep afloat with devastating numbers of unemployment, work stress, and profound isolation. So many of these stressors are out of our control. Such powerlessness is at the root of our anxieties. When people feel helpless to enact positive changes for themselves, they become fearful.

The antidote to this powerlessness, then, is to practice ways to control the things that are within our power to control. I would be naïve to expect people not to watch the news this week, but perhaps people can choose to limit the amount of time they spend doing so. If the news is contributing to a rise in anxiety, then it would be a good idea to consciously limit one’s exposure to the things that are triggering anxiety. Setting boundaries, in this case time boundaries, is a very empowering act of self-care. There are also a large number of concrete activities that people can do to help manage their anxiety. These often involve changing one’s heart rate either by slowing it down or speeding it up. I teach many patients suffering from anxiety disorders deep breathing exercises that help them take in vastly more air and slow down their breathing. With some patients, we start our sessions with ten minutes of a guided meditation, which can help people focus on the present moment and be more aware of their internal emotions and physical sensations, which may have the added benefit of providing some relaxation. Alternatively, you may choose to speed up your heartrate with any number of cardiovascular exercises. Physical exercise, in addition to keeping your body in good health, can help reduce anxiety. One patient who suffers from anxiety told me that she finds it helpful to focus her attention on activities that she enjoys, such as knitting and trying new recipes. And some people find it helpful to engage in activities that require some type of repetitive motion, such as scrubbing a pan.

FDR famously said, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” It seems more and more that politicians and many news sources are intentionally playing on our fears with the thinking that this fear will help them earn votes or make them money. In thinking about all the aggression that exists in the world, it seems to be fear that is at the root. Fear can cause people to act in ways that are almost unimaginable. Often, people aren’t even aware that they have these fears; they may simply be in touch with the anger that is fueling them to behave in dangerous ways. If we look closely, we may uncover deeply buried fears, such as fears of scarcity and fears of mortality. As we head into what is predicted to be a difficult week ahead, I invite you to take a moment to reflect on how you can approach the week by being kind to yourself and considering ways you can stave off feelings of powerlessness by taking charge of the things that are within your power and the ways you can actively manage your anxiety.

How to Manage Coronavirus-induced Anxiety

While people with an underlying anxiety disorder may be experiencing a heightened sense of panic or dread during this pandemic, pretty much everyone is grappling with some amount of unease as life as we know it is unhinged or even uprooted. Many people are staying home, which can disrupt our markers of daily life and leave us feeling disoriented and discombobulated. And as of right now, there is no end in sight, adding to our sense of powerlessness and confusion. Here are some simple things one can do to help manage this anxiety.

One course of action to combat anxiety is to slow down one’s heartrate using various relaxation techniques. There are a variety of useful tools such as guided visualization and progressive muscle relaxation. However, the simplest anxiety management technique I teach my patients is deep breathing. Many people have picked up faulty habits and have adopted shallow breathing patterns. Such breathing can actually exacerbate anxiety and panic. I work with patients to retrain their natural breath so that they develop diaphragmatic breathing. This allows the individual to take in vastly more air and slows down the whole process from inhalation to exhalation.

Think of our chest and stomach cavity as a cylinder. Put one hand on your rib cage and the other on your stomach. On a count of three breathe in, first fill your belly, and then, when that is full, expand your chest. You can fill the entire cavity, all the way around the back. Do this in reverse for the exhale. On a count of three, first exhale the air from your chest, followed by your stomach. When you feel that you’ve exhaled all the air in your chest and stomach cavity, pull up from your groin to get the last of the air out. Repeat this cycle three to five times. Try this a few times during the day. This is easy to do because you can do it anywhere and it takes very little time. With practice, this can eventually retrain the way you breathe so that it will be there automatically when you are most anxious. Remember, this is like opening a parachute: you wouldn’t wait until you are in midair to learn how to open it. You need to practice it over and over so that it will be there when you need it. After enough practice, try increasing to a count of four or five for each inhale and exhale.

Slowing down one’s breathing may prove a useful way to manage anxiety, but some people prefer to accelerate their heartrate as another anxiety management skill. The thinking is that changing one’s heartrate is the key, whether that means slowing it down or speeding it up. Any type of cardio activity can work: running, jogging, biking, jumping rope, dancing, swimming, and other athletic activities.

Another activity I personally find helpful with managing anxiety is to engage in some repetitive motion. Cleaning is an excellent example of this. Try scouring a pan or cleaning a floor. Something about the physical movement and repetition lends itself to getting the anxiety out of the body. Besides, you can benefit from having a clean surrounding!

This is not one size fits all. Experiment with some of the suggestions here and see which work best for you. You might come up with ideas not mentioned. What’s most important is that you find things that help lessen your anxiety and that you are actually likely to do. And remember, we are all going through this together. You are not alone.