Mental Health & The Election

[Rock]

If you Google mental health/anxiety and election, you will find dozens of news stories, websites, etc. in the recent days and weeks discussing how people are freaking out and letting their mental health deteriorate regarding the upcoming election.

I've said before that around 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. It's not something that affects me on the daily, like in an upfront way, but sometimes I will get in a bad mental space for a few weeks or months and then go years without problems. I usually get on an SSRI or tough it out when I'm in a bad state.

That aside, I'm fairly certain that this election is causing me to have physical symptoms of anxiety. My heart feeling like its skipped a beat, heat flashes, vertigo, upset stomach, etc. All of these things have been happening for the last handful of weeks.

Thus, instead of mainlining this stuff 24/7, I probably just need to check in periodically.

How's your mental health doing?

 

[finesse]

As bad as it is, I've been through worse. I have the experience to know that you still have to get up the next day and do shit. I've been through worse economic, racist, political and personal stuff. I don't want to go through any of it again. I'm just too old and stubborn if things go wrong to do anything but to dig in and hope to turn things around.

 

[gregh1]

 

[CallMeTyler]

I’m fairly settled and comfortable at the moment. I simply can’t believe this country sits on the sideline while the minority MAGA takes over.

There’s an obvious disinformation campaign meant to destroy our enthusiasm and subvert our elections. Just ignore it, call your friends, family, encourage voting and push a positive message.

Every single vote matters.

 

[superrific]

If you Google mental health/anxiety and election, you will find dozens of news stories, websites, etc. in the recent days and weeks discussing how people are freaking out and letting their mental health deteriorate regarding the upcoming election.

I've said before that around 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. It's not something that affects me on the daily, like in an upfront way, but sometimes I will get in a bad mental space for a few weeks or months and then go years without problems. I usually get on an SSRI or tough it out when I'm in a bad state.

That aside, I'm fairly certain that this election is causing me to have physical symptoms of anxiety. My heart feeling like its skipped a beat, heat flashes, vertigo, upset stomach, etc. All of these things have been happening for the last handful of weeks.

Thus, instead of mainlining this stuff 24/7, I probably just need to check in periodically.

How's your mental health doing?

I won't argue with you on periodically checking in being better than mainlining -- at least for polls. The proliferation of polls is, I think, the main cause of people's anxieties.

OTOH, my wife had some of those symptoms recently and chalked them up to anxiety. But they were actually that she couldn't handle caffeine any more. I think you and she are of similar age, so you might want to see a doctor about those symptoms.

Also, GAD doesn't usually manifest itself as a bad mental space for weeks and months. That sounds like a mood disorder. Obviously, 1) I'm not a psychiatrist and 2) GAD presents with all sorts of symptoms so I can't really say it's inconsistent with GAD. But I do know a few things from my experience and my wife's teachings. You might want to see a psychiatrist and get a new diagnosis. It might be GAD but it might be something else.

GAD is one of the most common wrong diagnoses. That's in part because it's a common go-to diagnosis when the practitioner doesn't have any other ideas. It's like a default. It's thus a less-than-robust diagnosis.

 

[sringwal]

As bad as it is, I've been through worse. I have the experience to know that you still have to get up the next day and do shit. I've been through worse economic, racist, political and personal stuff. I don't want to go through any of it again. I'm just too old and stubborn if things go wrong to do anything but to dig in and hope to turn things around.

Same here. Weed also helps.

 

[finesse]

Same here. Weed also helps.

If you include concentrates, I absolutely agree.

 

[tallheel95]

If you include concentrates, I absolutely agree.

Not to get off topic... but I have the absolute opposite reaction to weed. I get so weird and paranoid. It's not a positive experience for me, even at very low doses. I just can't understand everyone's love for the stuff.

 

[finesse]

Not to get off topic... but I have the absolute opposite reaction to weed. I get so weird and paranoid. It's not a positive experience for me, even at very low doses. I just can't understand everyone's love for the stuff.

It's not been an unmitigated blessing for me but it's gotten me through some seriously tough times with damned few side effects which is not true of very much you use regularly for 50 years.

As you say, it's not for everyone and I'm sorry it works that way for you. It's a nice enhancement to music and lots of other stuff. Still, there's other ways.

 

[gtyellowjacket]

I'm to the point where I've pretty much accepted Trump is going to win so any poll that pops up that shows it's moving in Trump's favor hasn't really negatively affect me. And if Harris wins, it's a happy surprise.

 

[heelinhell]

If you Google mental health/anxiety and election, you will find dozens of news stories, websites, etc. in the recent days and weeks discussing how people are freaking out and letting their mental health deteriorate regarding the upcoming election.

I've said before that around 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. It's not something that affects me on the daily, like in an upfront way, but sometimes I will get in a bad mental space for a few weeks or months and then go years without problems. I usually get on an SSRI or tough it out when I'm in a bad state.

That aside, I'm fairly certain that this election is causing me to have physical symptoms of anxiety. My heart feeling like its skipped a beat, heat flashes, vertigo, upset stomach, etc. All of these things have been happening for the last handful of weeks.

Thus, instead of mainlining this stuff 24/7, I probably just need to check in periodically.

How's your mental health doing?

My day to day life keeps me grounded. I am concerned about the future that my children and grandchildren will face should Trump win and successfully dismantle our democratic republic.

I'm clinging to the hope that we have not become an idiocracy

 

[CFordUNC]

I'm probably annoyingly sanguine about the election, not because I don't understand the negative ramifications of a Trump win, but because I'm never again letting the outcome of a political election one way or the other steal my joy. It goes without saying that I'll feel a hell of a lot more relieved (understatement of the century) if Harris wins and Trump loses, but either way, win or lose, I'll have the same goals, dreams, ambitions, and desires personally and professionally on the morning of November 6, and I'll have the same family and friends that I've always had and will focus much of my energy on being better for all of them.

 

[Centerpiece]

If you Google mental health/anxiety and election, you will find dozens of news stories, websites, etc. in the recent days and weeks discussing how people are freaking out and letting their mental health deteriorate regarding the upcoming election.

I've said before that around 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. It's not something that affects me on the daily, like in an upfront way, but sometimes I will get in a bad mental space for a few weeks or months and then go years without problems. I usually get on an SSRI or tough it out when I'm in a bad state.

That aside, I'm fairly certain that this election is causing me to have physical symptoms of anxiety. My heart feeling like its skipped a beat, heat flashes, vertigo, upset stomach, etc. All of these things have been happening for the last handful of weeks.

Thus, instead of mainlining this stuff 24/7, I probably just need to check in periodically.

How's your mental health doing?

I feel I’ve been adversely affected. I think I suffer from trump derangement syndrome… which I can only assume is a thing. This can manifest itself with how I can be so short with conservatives on the boards. (This awesome new board, and IC ZZLP before). I’ve gone off on a couple folks at the gym where I go. Not proud of it. Embarrassed really.
I blasted my wife the other night, I was drunk. She said something that pissed me off. She took it remarkably well, ignored me, knew I was drunk, and I think she also believes I suffer from TDS. The next morning she calmly discussed it with me. Wants me to quit binging on election and negative trump shit. Again, I was embarrassed, remorseful, contrite, apologetic. But I was left wondering what the hell came over me? I mean, I was like Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Completely off my rocker.

I’ve been drunk before and my wife’s pissed me off, but I’ve never gone off like that before. I think I may need help.

All that said, I’ve been a total wreck the past two weeks due to hurricane, aftermath, searching for lost mother, trump, election, insurance adjusters, poor digestive health due to terrible diet during 8 days of no power, no water… eating a bunch of totally unhealthy shit. Been down in my back for over a week - 2 chiropractors, 2 massage therapists, trip to the Ortho for X-rays and now a round of prednisone (which I understand can make one cranky and hot-headed.)

I’m not in a good place and will feel much better after the election and we can dig out from under the hurricane shit here in WNC. Ain’t nobody having too much fun in WNC these days. I’m not. Tar Heel football sux. The damn Yankees and possibly the insufferable Dodgers or Mets are in the WS which really sux for a Braves fan… I guess I’ll quit bellyaching now…

 

[tallheel95]

I feel I’ve been adversely affected. I think I suffer from trump derangement syndrome… which I can only assume is a thing. This can manifest itself with how I can be so short with conservatives on the boards. (This awesome new board, and IC ZZLP before). I’ve gone off on a couple folks at the gym where I go. Not proud of it. Embarrassed really.
I blasted my wife the other night, I was drunk. She said something that pissed me off. She took it remarkably well, ignored me, knew I was drunk, and I think she also believes I suffer from TDS. The next morning she calmly discussed it with me. Wants me to quit binging on election and negative trump shit. Again, I was embarrassed, remorseful, contrite, apologetic. But I was left wondering what the hell came over me? I mean, I was like Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Completely off my rocker.

I’ve been drunk before and my wife’s pissed me off, but I’ve never gone off like that before. I think I may need help.

All that said, I’ve been a total wreck the past two weeks due to hurricane, aftermath, searching for lost mother, trump, election, insurance adjusters, poor digestive health due to terrible diet during 8 days of no power, no water… eating a bunch of totally unhealthy shit. Been down in my back for over a week - 2 chiropractors, 2 massage therapists, trip to the Ortho for X-rays and now a round of prednisone (which I understand can make one cranky and hot-headed.)

I’m not in a good place and will feel much better after the election and we can dig out from under the hurricane shit here in WNC. Ain’t nobody having too much fun in WNC these days. I’m not. Tar Heel football sux. The damn Yankees and the insufferable Dodgers are in the WS which really sux for a Braves fan… I guess I’ll quit bellyaching now…

Oh, Prednisone will bring on alllll the negative emotion. I'm sure that's a major contributor. Plus the hurricane and its aftermath... you're really going through it! Hang in there...

 

[ZenMode]

If you Google mental health/anxiety and election, you will find dozens of news stories, websites, etc. in the recent days and weeks discussing how people are freaking out and letting their mental health deteriorate regarding the upcoming election.

I've said before that around 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. It's not something that affects me on the daily, like in an upfront way, but sometimes I will get in a bad mental space for a few weeks or months and then go years without problems. I usually get on an SSRI or tough it out when I'm in a bad state.

That aside, I'm fairly certain that this election is causing me to have physical symptoms of anxiety. My heart feeling like its skipped a beat, heat flashes, vertigo, upset stomach, etc. All of these things have been happening for the last handful of weeks.

Thus, instead of mainlining this stuff 24/7, I probably just need to check in periodically.

How's your mental health doing?

Not at all trying to derail the discussion, but turning off cable news and avoiding social media/political forums helps a lot with political anxiety.

 

[heelinhell]

I feel I’ve been adversely affected. I think I suffer from trump derangement syndrome… which I can only assume is a thing. This can manifest itself with how I can be so short with conservatives on the boards. (This awesome new board, and IC ZZLP before). I’ve gone off on a couple folks at the gym where I go. Not proud of it. Embarrassed really.
I blasted my wife the other night, I was drunk. She said something that pissed me off. She took it remarkably well, ignored me, knew I was drunk, and I think she also believes I suffer from TDS. The next morning she calmly discussed it with me. Wants me to quit binging on election and negative trump shit. Again, I was embarrassed, remorseful, contrite, apologetic. But I was left wondering what the hell came over me? I mean, I was like Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Completely off my rocker.

I’ve been drunk before and my wife’s pissed me off, but I’ve never gone off like that before. I think I may need help.

All that said, I’ve been a total wreck the past two weeks due to hurricane, aftermath, searching for lost mother, trump, election, insurance adjusters, poor digestive health due to terrible diet during 8 days of no power, no water… eating a bunch of totally unhealthy shit. Been down in my back for over a week - 2 chiropractors, 2 massage therapists, trip to the Ortho for X-rays and now a round of prednisone (which I understand can make one cranky and hot-headed.)

I’m not in a good place and will feel much better after the election and we can dig out from under the hurricane shit here in WNC. Ain’t nobody having too much fun in WNC these days. I’m not. Tar Heel football sux. The damn Yankees and the insufferable Dodgers are in the WS which really sux for a Braves fan… I guess I’ll quit bellyaching now…

I feel for you...

It sounds like the hurricane destruction is the major stressor and rightly so !
Anger is a side effect of prednisone
Your pain from a back problem is no picnic ( I am recovering from a broken shoulder suffered in June )
It's not TDS

Don't freak out over your response to your situation. Your behavior, given the circumstances, is quite normal . That is my professional opinion.

 

[TarSpiel]

My morning zazen practice is going very well. Also, my 2-year-old keeps things fresh every moment, so I'm a-okay.

Don't actually give much of a crap about this election, and am certainly not following any stories about it closely. I really hope Harris wins, but we'll survive one way or another if she doesn't.

 

[UNCatTech]

My family has experience with so many different expressions of mental health issues, I've learned so much over the years and still know that I do not know enough.
I'm glad to see society seems to be heading the right direction with awareness and treatment, but we are a long way from having the tools to really deal with it. I just hope that we keep going.

At this time, I'm actually in an ok place, but my wife and I are having to deal with the impending passing of my father and how we are going to take care of my mother. So, there's always a challenge.

There is one thing. So many know the story of the struggles of my middle daughter. I'm so happy that she is doing really well. She put her opening a bakery on hold for now and took a job at Sams in the bakery about 7 months ago. She's already been promoted to shift manager and increased her salary 50%. But listening to her talk about work and dealing with customers and employees, you can tell that she learned so much from the therapy. She's very understanding, compassionate, and really reads people well. I think that she would make a great counselor. She's just in a good place right now and that makes my wife and my life much better.

 

[UNCatTech]

I feel I’ve been adversely affected. I think I suffer from trump derangement syndrome… which I can only assume is a thing. This can manifest itself with how I can be so short with conservatives on the boards. (This awesome new board, and IC ZZLP before). I’ve gone off on a couple folks at the gym where I go. Not proud of it. Embarrassed really.
I blasted my wife the other night, I was drunk. She said something that pissed me off. She took it remarkably well, ignored me, knew I was drunk, and I think she also believes I suffer from TDS. The next morning she calmly discussed it with me. Wants me to quit binging on election and negative trump shit. Again, I was embarrassed, remorseful, contrite, apologetic. But I was left wondering what the hell came over me? I mean, I was like Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Completely off my rocker.

I’ve been drunk before and my wife’s pissed me off, but I’ve never gone off like that before. I think I may need help.

All that said, I’ve been a total wreck the past two weeks due to hurricane, aftermath, searching for lost mother, trump, election, insurance adjusters, poor digestive health due to terrible diet during 8 days of no power, no water… eating a bunch of totally unhealthy shit. Been down in my back for over a week - 2 chiropractors, 2 massage therapists, trip to the Ortho for X-rays and now a round of prednisone (which I understand can make one cranky and hot-headed.)

I’m not in a good place and will feel much better after the election and we can dig out from under the hurricane shit here in WNC. Ain’t nobody having too much fun in WNC these days. I’m not. Tar Heel football sux. The damn Yankees and possibly the insufferable Dodgers or Mets are in the WS which really sux for a Braves fan… I guess I’ll quit bellyaching now…

Wow, @Centerpiece that's hard to read. empathize with the struggle and I hope that things improve.

I don't know the story, but I hope that your mother is now found, I couldn't imagine the impact of dealing with the aftermath of the hurricane, trying to rebuild some normalcy in life and having a burden like that to shoulder.

I understand the trump thing, I will be so glad when this election is over. I just hope that he looses and moves on and the cult disbands. But I've had to really cut back because this bothers me also and I have few people to discuss with outside of this board, my wife, and a couple of trusted friend. That in itself makes it hard. I see you have a good wife, I hope you have some others that you can confide in.

I wish you the best and hope that things are moving the right direction and that you can move past some of these challenges.

 

[HeelingAg]

I won't argue with you on periodically checking in being better than mainlining -- at least for polls. The proliferation of polls is, I think, the main cause of people's anxieties.

OTOH, my wife had some of those symptoms recently and chalked them up to anxiety. But they were actually that she couldn't handle caffeine any more. I think you and she are of similar age, so you might want to see a doctor about those symptoms.

Also, GAD doesn't usually manifest itself as a bad mental space for weeks and months. That sounds like a mood disorder. Obviously, 1) I'm not a psychiatrist and 2) GAD presents with all sorts of symptoms so I can't really say it's inconsistent with GAD. But I do know a few things from my experience and my wife's teachings. You might want to see a psychiatrist and get a new diagnosis. It might be GAD but it might be something else.

GAD is one of the most common wrong diagnoses. That's in part because it's a common go-to diagnosis when the practitioner doesn't have any other ideas. It's like a default. It's thus a less-than-robust diagnosis.

I’d like to second this post, from the standpoint of questioning generalized diagnoses. GAD might indeed be at the core, but a GAD dx is also often like a shitty pcp doing a and saying “oh, you probably have (insert: fibromyalgia/functional neurological disorder/chronic fatigue syndrome, stress, exhaustion etc). Eat veggies, calm down, and exercise!” Vaguery is quite often the placeholder until more is known, trouble is sometimes more doesn’t become known, and even if it does a shocking number of practitioners don’t update their priors. E.g. I’ve had practitioners tell me I have fibromyalgia, after looking at spine X-rays and not seeing anything to clearly explain my prominent but also diffused joint and nerve pain, amongst other dysautonomia symptoms. Two years and seven referrals later, turns out I have an easily tested for connective tissue disorder.

All to say, if the broad diagnosis doesn’t quite track, advocate for yourself. It may not change your circumstance much, or it could change everything.