Feeling political fatigue and election anxiety?
Maybe you should talk to someone.
I Read The News Today, Oh Boy.
Let me start with what was going to be the closing line of this blog post: Fasten your seatbelts because the remainder of 2024 is going to be a rocket ride.I don’t say this out of a desire to ring the alarm. I’m saying this because I’m a student of history, a political junkie, a recovering journalist… and now a licensed therapist.
If you recognized the title of this post as a lyric above from The Beatles song “A Day In The Life,” good catch. Looking at headlines from this summer, a quote from the other famous dead guy named Lenin (as in “Vladamir Lenin”) leaps to mind: “There are decades where nothing happens, and weeks where decades happen.”
From Journalism to Therapy: A Shift in Perspective
Previously I’ve written about how my background as a journalist led me to a new career as a therapist. Since the year 2000, I’ve crossed the country covering the Republican and Democratic national conventions, and chasing politicians along the campaign trail at the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary.
In 2012 I secured a bureau job in Washington D.C. working out of the White House press pool. From that vantage point, it was “just another day in the office” to look over my left shoulder and snap photos with my phone like the one here from September 11, 2013 of then-President Obama, Vice-President Biden and their spouses on the South Lawn.
After years covering elections I have a firm grasp on what the campaigns are like for politicians and voters. I’ve also got deep knowledge of how Washington D.C. works, and what it’s like for people inside and outside of the Capital Beltway.
A Lightbulb Moment: Election Anxiety and Political Fatigue
Recently, I was talking to my boss, Christie Orosz, about services I could offer clients in addition to helping couples work through relationship issues. As a new hire, fresh out of grad school and with a less-than-a-month-old Marriage and Family Therapist license, I started thinking about what else clients might need. I thought about what might be weighing on people’s minds and blended in my experiences from journalism.
I had already been thinking 2024 would be bonkers, especially because of the upcoming election.
“I can help people work through election anxiety and political fatigue,”
I blurted out. Being familiar with my background, Christie thought about it and said “Oh… yeah. That’s an interesting idea. We should list that as a specialty in your bio.”
Neither of us knew what might happen in the weeks ahead, but I did tell her, based on past experience, I thought something would be going down by mid-summer that would dominate headlines and bring the public’s mental health troubles to a head. It’s a familiar pattern during election years.
Election Year drama shapes the political landscape
I read an interesting article recently by Philip Klinkner. He points out that Americans have a history of surviving tough times in the 20th Century. 1968 was chock-a-block with tumult. In April of that year Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated. Rioting consumed many major cities. In June, Robert F. Kennedy won the California primary and was assassinated in Los Angeles. August saw Soviet troops roll into Czechoslovakia and horrific violence at the Democratic National Convention. Then there’s 1973. The year started with the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in January. At the end of April the Watergate scandal exploded. Televised Senate hearings began in May. Lastly, in October, the Yom Kippur War started as Egypt and Syria invaded Israel.
Klinkner points out that wars and presidential elections seem to generate a cascade of events.
What’s 2024 already spit out?
Starting off the 2024 election season, in mid-July a 20-year-old registered Republican tried to kill his own party’s presidential candidate.
Next, the Republican National Convention immediately following the assassination attempt was able to grab the spotlight, only to be upstaged three days later by President Biden’s decision not to compete for the job again.
Now, headlines are dominated by Kamala Harris’s choice of Tim Walz as her running mate and rally crowd size comparisons. Who knows what the Democratic National Convention has in store.
It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon (malapropism intended) to figure out that Americans are uncomfortable with the state of politics this year. But how, exactly, do you talk with people through worries they have about who will step into the most important job in the world and what it might mean for their future?
Added to the cold sweat cocktail: there’s no guarantee that either side will accept the results of the upcoming November election. The last time ballots were counted for the Presidential election the aftermath led to rioting and bloodshed inside the US Capitol building.
Countdown to Election Day
We surely live in interesting times. Times that will undoubtedly produce anxiety for many people. I agree with Peggy Noonan’s opinion that the American political story right now is one of instability. I also agree with her assessment that, at this point in the election cycle, “things are about to get meaner, more viscous and primal.” What sense can we make at this time when both parties are saying we need to cool the temperature down?
It’s been a doozy of a summer. Scanning the headlines, I’m reminded of the ghoulish phrase often attributed to Captain Bligh from Mutiny on The Bounty:
“The beatings will continue until morale improves.”
If you’re experiencing political fatigue or election anxiety maybe you should talk to someone about it.
Maybe that person is me.
I know a little bit about these things.
Written by Chris Cantergiani, MS-MFT
