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Just about everybody is really worried about the U.S.’s Election Day, which is coming up on us fast. In a recent poll from the American Psychological Association, 72 percent of people said they were concerned that the results of the election could lead to violence. And 56 percent said it could end democracy in the country. Nina Vasan, a psychiatrist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, who has researched Internet-based anxiety treatments and sees patients at her clinical practice, says she has never encountered this level of depression and concern about the future. And she is seeing it both in people who support Kamala Harris and in people who support Donald Trump. Scientific American senior health editor Josh Fischman spoke with Vasan this week about the reasons for this extreme stress level. Vasan also described several self-help methods that people can use to reduce their fears and worries—practices that they can employ even if uncertainty over the winner extends past Election Day.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
Are people exceptionally on edge for this presidential election?
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Oh, yes. I’m hearing things like “I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning” and “I wake up in the night, or I can’t even sleep because I’m so anxious” and “I’m having nightmares of what could happen in two weeks or next year.” I have one patient who lives in Washington, D.C., but is going to stay with her mother in Oregon because she’s afraid of the possibility of violence in the nation’s capital. There are a lot of real symptoms of anxiety and depression. Some people feel it very physically. They feel nauseous, or their heart is racing, or they’re sweating, or they feel incredibly tired. We all experience anxiety and fear differently.
Is this level of stress worse than what you’ve seen in past elections?
Definitely, and I think there are several reasons for that. One is that a sense of stress has been building up for years. It’s not just this election. Go back to October 7, 2023, and Hamas’s terrible attack on Israel and then the awful destruction and loss of life brought by Israel’s war in Gaza. Before that there was Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine. Here at home there are mass shootings and the mob attack on the Capitol on January 6, [2021]. Whether it’s the New York Times or Facebook or TikTok, we get this constant stream of very negative news about humanity that has really made people depressed and sad and upset about the world.
Now it’s Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Trump was already president four years ago, right? If you’re a Republican, you probably think of his four years as when life was great. If you’re a Democrat, you likely think of those four years as when life was horrible. For both, there’s this fear that “if all that returns, my life is going to suck.”
Does this fear take its toll on relationships, too?
We’re a diverse country with diverse beliefs. Now opinions are so divided that people feel they can’t talk to their boss or friends or family because they’ll disagree about politics. People feel silenced or harassed into silence. I’ve heard some people say they’re not going home for Thanksgiving because they’ll just argue about politics with family.
Just reading news about politics seems to make people upset.
There are people who are just consuming news nonstop. They get overwhelmed and anxious. They stop spending time with friends and doing the work they need to do because it’s this huge thing that’s taken over their lives.
What can people do to relieve this sense of dread?
The recommendation that I give to everyone is that you have to put very strong boundaries around your consumption. So when I wake up in the morning, I can read the news for 30 minutes, I can scroll TikTok or Instagram or whatever for 10 minutes. But then I stop, and I’m not allowed to go back until tomorrow morning.
Do you really tell people “30 minutes and you’re done”?
I do. I think in half an hour, you can consume what you need, especially if you’re a daily news reader. Whether its politics or sports or entertainment or stocks or whatever. Beyond that, it gets repetitive. I see that people watch or read something, get concerned by it and feel driven to read four more articles on the same subject, thinking that will make them feel better. And you know what? It never makes them feel better. They feel worse.
You have to check in with yourself. Ask if you’re happier or more upset after reading something. If you’re feeling more negative, then you really should stop.
But it’s not easy to just stop doomscrolling.
Smartphones and computers that run media and social media apps make it easier. My research group worked with TikTok on ways to set limits a year or two ago. The idea was to put in the ability to say, “I’m not going to do more than 30 minutes or 60 minutes.” A little pop-up will come up and say, “Hey, it’s been 60 minutes.” So it’s time to get off. I have an iPhone and you can set a limit of, say, 15 minutes for all social media. I think I have a five-minute limit.
Do you obey it?
I do press the Ignore button every now and then. Everyone does that, but I think it’s good that we have the ability to see that pop-up and make that change.
Are there other things people can do themselves to stop this spiral into despair?
Absolutely. Things that are really good to do, especially for anxiety, include meditation, deep breathing, exercise, time in nature and journaling. Figure out what things bring you peace and calm. They could be different for many of us. Maybe it’s reading a book. Maybe it’s building a fort with your kids, right? But just do something that is not about the election.
You mentioned writing in a journal. Why does that help?
Journaling is actually something that I’ve really seen aid people a lot, particularly folks who have trouble sleeping because of their anxiety. It’s just writing down your feelings and thoughts about the day before you go to bed. I think that there’s just something very powerful about the physicality, the connection to body, of having a pen in hand and writing on paper.
Is connecting to your body also why time in nature is valuable?
Yes. Taking a walk in nature and really listening to every sound and smelling every scent—it’s connecting with the world, connecting with your thoughts, connecting with your body in a meaningful way. These are sensations you don’t get if you’re scrolling through TikTok for an hour.
You also think doing something called a body scan is helpful.
A body scan is this form of meditation and relaxation where you either start with your head or your toes, and depending on that, you go up or down. You isolate each part of your body and just focus on it for a few seconds. Like, you can start with your scalp. Just focus, close your eyes, think about your scalp. Feel it. Then tense it and release it. And then do that with your forehead and then with your eyes and then with your cheeks and then with your lips, and so on.
Are these things you can do for an extended period of time? A lot of people worry this election isn’t going to be decided on Election Day and that challenges and uncertainty will go on for months.
Certainly. This is not just for the election; this is for any type of anxiety. When you find something that works for you, stick to it.