What's Coming Next? Dealing with Post-election Stress
In the wake of the 2024 election, the future is feeling uncertain for many Americans. The result has been a mental health spike, with "post election depression" sitting among the top Google searches at the time of this article and mental health bookings jumping nationwide.
If this sense of discomfort sounds familiar, know that you're not alone: A poll from the American Psychological Association found that 77% of Americans surveyed identified the country's future as a significant source of stress in their lives.
Paying Attention to the Signs
Like many others this November, you may be wondering how you can best take steps to safeguard your well-being in the coming weeks and months. Clinical psychologists suggest that the first step is to assess the impact that stress is currently having on your life. There are a range of signs that your stress level is becoming unhealthy. They include:
1. A sense of being overwhelmed, particularly by things you could easily manage before
2. Increased irritability and frustration
3. Catastrophizing, or imagining worst-case scenarios
4. Decreased concentration or ability to focus
5. Physical symptoms of fatigue, or changes in sleep and appetite
6. Lack of motivation or interest
The first five of these are consistent with anxiety, which can lead to burnout if left unchecked.
What to Do Next
If you're noticing these symptoms appearing in your life post-election, one of the best ways to interrupt them is to re-ground by taking a mental health day. Don’t think of it as playing hooky or slacking off. A proper mental health day should involve healthy or positive activities, not sleeping in and then scrolling on your phone.
Decide what might help you feel more grounded, present, and powerful and then do it. Useful activities include:
Going for a walk outside or getting exercise
Cooking or eating a nourishing meal — especially with others
Tackling a problem you've been avoiding head-on
Setting your devices aside for the day
Doing something that allows you to help others
Offering kindness
Burnout comes when stress isn't dealt with in a timely manner. Julianne Schroeder, a licensed professional counselor (LPC) in Colorado and Texas, finds that clients often use the terms stress, anxiety, and burnout interchangeably. Usually, however, our initial discomfort comes in response to an external stressor, such as we are seeing with the election. Schroeder defines burnout as the fallout from a stressed and overwhelmed system that has been left unchecked for too long.
In an interview for Counseling Today, Schroeder says, “Our bodies are not meant to stay in hyper activation or fight-or-flight long term.” If it does, then “the body … goes into protection mode — a.k.a. burnout.”
So, don’t think of taking a mental health day as checking out, but rather consciously checking in to limit stress. That means having faith in yourself to navigate challenges as they come, taking positive action where you can, and grounding yourself often. Certainly not everything about the next four years will be easy, but we will be much better prepared to handle them if we consciously prioritize our well-being.
