PORTLAND, Ore. — The election is coming up fast, and a lot of people are anxious about the outcome.
In this week's "Healthier Together," we spoke to a psychologist about how you can keep your mental health in check.
In a cozy room in Northeast Portland, psychologist Dr. Heather Stein helps her clients with everything from PTSD to identity issues. In recent years, she's added election anxiety to the list.
“I never would have thought that in my career there would be so much conversation about political and election anxiety,” said Stein.
She said it started around 2016: “Things got more divisive, we'll say.”
Stein says our brains are wired to get more anxious with uncertainty. People can sometimes lose out on sleep and relationships with others who have different beliefs.
“They lose the fact that there are still shared values, shared beliefs, shared likes, shared dislikes that can keep you connected,” Stein said.
Also, according to Stein, it’s possible that two things can be true at once.
“We can look at cognitive dissonance, where you have opposites that you hold at the same time in your head and they’re both true, so you cannot agree with something someone says, and you can love them deeply and they can coexist,” said Stein.
If necessary, she said, give yourself permission to step away from conversations that are heating up.
Tips on how to deal with election anxiety
So how else can you deal with all the election and political anxiety? Here are five tips from Stein:
No. 1: Remember, all of us have experienced loss or disappointment and survived it.
No. 2: It sounds simple, but stay healthy. Eat nourishing food, get decent sleep, exercise and spend time with friends.
No. 3: Check your screen time. Stein says we tend to look for information that confirms or elevates our fears. So, challenge yourself. Either step away from the screen or look for positive news. Maybe check out KGW’s "The Good Stuff," which typically airs at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The idea here: balance.
No. 4: Ask yourself what you do have control over, make a decision and do it. It could be as simple as choosing to try a specific restaurant.
No. 5: Pay attention to your thoughts. Is everything in your life going to crumble if your candidate loses? Stein said chances are no.
“It's an opportunity to look at it like, ‘Wow, this is hard and scary, but perhaps something good will come out of it. I just don't know what it will be,’" said Stein. “Trust you will get through this, as we have every time.
For people experiencing election anxiety, Stein recommends making an Election Day plan: Figure out who you want to be around, where you want to be and how you're going to take care of yourself, regardless of the outcome.