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Medicine Politics

Today's Politics May Be Bad for Your Health 203

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: An Iowa man is so bothered by the political climate that his psychologist says he asked for a higher dosage of his anxiety medication. A Chicago woman is so uneasy about politics that she has needed two dental implants to deal with her teeth-grinding habit. And a New York woman says she suffered her first flare-up of multiple sclerosis in 10 years due to political angst. Americans are stressed and politics is a major cause, according to psychologists, psychiatrists and recent surveys.

A study published in September in the journal PLOS One found that politics is a source of stress for 38% of Americans. "The major takeaway from this is that if our numbers are really anywhere in the ballpark, there are tens of millions of Americans who see politics as exacting a toll on their social, psychological, emotional and even physical health," says Kevin Smith, lead author of the study and chair of the political science department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
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Today's Politics May Be Bad for Your Health More

Today's Politics May Be Bad for Your Health

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  • If you are aware and dig deeper than you can tolerate, the news is always upsetting but the USA is collapsing and as more people realize and pay attention the more will be upset at it's continued demise.

    The thing to remember is that all democracies fall into despotism; it's the cycle of life. The only thing to worry about is will it be a relatively peaceful or horrific death.

    • Re:The Real News is very very bad. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by RightSaidFred99 ( 874576 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @01:17PM (#59288738)

      How is the US collapsing, because..twitter people are in a mad frenzy? Fact is our economy is booming and most Americans are better off now than they were 10 years ago.

      You seem to be buying into the melodrama going on in the media. If anything the fact that even a complete fucking senile imbecile like Trump can't steer us too badly wrong should be heartening for Americans.

      • How is the US collapsing...

        It's collapsing by the complete lack of empathy. The rich aren't just getting richer, they're getting more and more oppressive. And the poor aren't just getting poorer, they're getting more and more angry.

        ...even a complete fucking senile imbecile like Trump can't steer us too badly wrong...

        Citation needed. If anything, it's ONLY BEEN complete fucking senile imbeciles (politicians) that have the ability to steer us too badly wrong.

      • The US certainly seems to be balkanizing. Even if we assume it can maintain itself in its current state, at its current trajectory it will more closely resemble Brazil than the US of the 20th and early 21st century before very long. You can take the position that that is a good thing... that's a discussion to be had I guess but the reality of what that will mean is pretty starkly laid out when we look at every other nation south of us.

      • Just watch. Rome took longer to fall than the USA existed. It gets hard to point to a single moment when it's usually a gradual slide-- take Germany, or Italy which went quickly but it still took about 10 years each to go completely despotic AND they also went to the extremes of forceful expansion. People debate at which point it flipped but it was many points.

        Italy was Making Italy Great Again (yes, Trump is taking credit for another's work.) The expression "he got the trains running on time" is akin to

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sjames ( 1099 )

        Tell that to people whose family members have died due to lack of a medication we've had for over a century that costs $5 to make a month's supply but costs about $500 retail.

        Wall street's economy is booming, Main Street's, not so much.

        • About the only place I'm with you - our healthcare system needs some changes. For now they should just let anyone buy into medicare for a sliding scale (based on income) amount. But that problem has been long in the making and has been around for a long time, it's nothing new.

          Wall street vs proverbial main street is rubbish. The standard of living in the US has gone up and continues to do so.

      • Perhaps "collapsing" is too strong a word, but I was truly disheartened today when I heard about this quote on Fox News:

        What you are seeing is regicide. This is regicide by another name, fake impeachment.

        - Former U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova

        And I watched the video of it. Holy crap, Laura Ingraham doesn't even blink.

        The Ingraham Angle - Regicide [youtube.com]

        These two nonentities are suicide bombers that the Democrats have unleashed on the democratic process.

        And she seems to anticipate some blowback and tells people to "get a sense of humor" as she moves on to Rudy Giuliani.

        Let's rewind:

        Regicide

        : The murder of a king. Come on. Trump is NOT king. We don't have one. And impeachment is not murder or even a ju

    • Plato tried to warn us

      https://www.psychologytoday.co... [psychologytoday.com]

    • Re:The Real News is very very bad. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by twocows ( 1216842 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @01:40PM (#59288860)

      but the USA is collapsing and as more people realize and pay attention the more will be upset at it's continued demise

      You really need to substantiate a claim like that. People have been foretelling doom since the dawn of language.

      • but the USA is collapsing and as more people realize and pay attention the more will be upset at it's continued demise

        You really need to substantiate a claim like that. People have been foretelling doom since the dawn of language.

        His tea leaves check out man, I can vouch for em.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Chromal ( 56550 )
        Exhibit A: The US is increasingly a failed state, failed states being simply defined as states that do not follow the requirements of their own Constitutions. Our elections are corrupt. Our SCOTUS is illegitimate after Merrick Garland was cast aside unconstitutionally. Our elected officials don't work in the best interests of their constituents, they work for the private money. That money is wrongfully considered equivalent to speech. We have unprosecuted war crimes and unindicted war criminals at large. We
    • we're human beings, not animals. There's several things we can do to fix democracy, just off the top of my head:

      1. Make voting mandatory. This prevents voter suprression tactics that despots use to transition to a dictatorship.

      2. Ranked Choice voting. Again, this makes it very hard to do shenanigans.

      3. Make voting a universal, inalienable right. Yes, this means ax murders & pedophiles get to vote. If your democracy has so many ax murders & pedophiles the can swing elections you've got bigge

      • You need to implement a proper voting system with the following rules:

        (1) All politicians holding office MUST run for re-election.
        (2) Every voter gets to vote for (+1) or against (-1) any one candidate.
        (3) For each candidate the +1 and -1 votes are tallied separately.
        (4) The candidate with the greatest number of negative votes is executed.
        (5) Then the +votes and -votes for each candidate are added together to give a score.
        (6) The candidate with the greatest score > 0 is elected.
        (7) The candidate with the

        • is the revolving door. There's a less bloody and actually effective way to solve it that I left off because my list was already getting long:

          6. Give any politician above Dog Catcher a lifetime pension equal to their salary, and make sure the salary is upper middle class and indexed to inflation. Also give everybody Universal Healthcare (in case that was not obvious). Then make a law that once you've held office that's it. You retire from public life. You cannot hold a job, cannot own stocks, cannot sit o

    • The thing to remember is that all democracies fall into despotism.

      False by counterexample

      It depends upon how strictly you define democracy, but some democracies fall by military defeat. Confederate States of America is one example. Another poster cited ancient Athens.

  • "Politics may be bad for your health". There, FIFY.

  • I'm more concerned about my physical health when WWIII starts.

  • Facebook (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Nidi62 ( 1525137 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @01:18PM (#59288742)

    That's one of the main reasons I got off Facebook. Seeing people I know constantly reposting or liking distortions, out of context quotes, or outright falsehoods was starting to drive me to depression. Get off social media and your life instantly because significantly less stressful.

    • Re:Facebook (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Tempest_2084 ( 605915 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @02:55PM (#59289302)
      I've banned all political discussion on my Facebook feed. I use a tool called Facebook Purity which lets me filter out posts based on keywords (among other useful tools). That doesn't stop everything, but that stops a lot of it. I've had to do the old 'Unfollow but stay friends' thing with several people though because all they seemed to want to do is post political crap on FB all day. I've been a much happier person since.

  • I sell beautiful pots of the finest desert sand for convenient and healthful head-sticking.

  • is bringing us all together. Like matter and anti-matter.

  • How could it not affect people's psyche when it's all so personal?
    e.g. Trump 2020. Make liberals cry again! What public policy crisis or initiative does this attempt to address? None that I can see.

  • Stress (Score:5, Interesting)

    by twocows ( 1216842 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @01:23PM (#59288780)
    The underlying cause is stress and it's well known that chronic stress causes health issues. Politics is just one possible cause of stress.

    Stress isn't even inherently bad. It's just bad for your health if you're under stress for a long period of time (either repeatedly or ongoing). In the short term, stress can lead you to take action to change your environment. Maybe you're stressed about some policy change so you get some friends together to protest it. Maybe that causes the policy change to be reversed. That's a positive outcome of stress. However, some people stress about things they can't (or aren't willing to) change and that doesn't tend to go away. It builds up and causes health problems. That's no good.

    If politics is stressing you out, figure out if you can do anything about it. If you can, figure out if you're going to do anything about it. If the answer to either of these questions is no, stop worrying about it and just figure out how you're going to deal with it. Easier said than done, I know.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

      If politics is stressing you out, figure out if you can do anything about it. If you can, figure out if you're going to do anything about it. If the answer to either of these questions is no, stop worrying about it and just figure out how you're going to deal with it. Easier said than done, I know.

      That's exactly how I handle stress. My wife always asks me how I'm never stressed out and my answer is that I don't think about or internalize stress. I only worry about the things I can control, while most things that cause stress are external and outside my control. Therefore, the amount of stress I experience is limited and almost completely self imposed (and therefore self-regulated).

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by eth1 ( 94901 )

      The underlying cause is stress and it's well known that chronic stress causes health issues. Politics is just one possible cause of stress. ... However, some people stress about things they can't (or aren't willing to) change and that doesn't tend to go away. It builds up and causes health problems. That's no good.

      If politics is stressing you out, figure out if you can do anything about it. If you can, figure out if you're going to do anything about it. If the answer to either of these questions is no, stop worrying about it and just figure out how you're going to deal with it. Easier said than done, I know.

      I think part of the problem is that people are finally realizing that a) politics does actually affect their well-being, and b) they can't actually affect the material outcome (doesn't matter who you vote for, they're all a similar brand of crooked)

      Add in to that the fact that it's nearly impossible to tell what's actually true anymore, at least not without a ton of work.

      • they can't actually affect the material outcome

        And yet it isn't that way in every democracy. Different voting schemes - rank choice, multi victor districts, etc - result in people feeling like they can affect the material outcome which results in higher participation. Instead of realizing that they can't affect the outcome, we should change our voting system to let them affect the material outcome.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Empiric ( 675968 )
      Or, as another rather well-known formulation...

      God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
      Courage to change the things I can,
      And wisdom to know the difference.

  • I'm a dinosaur and have run out of fucks to give (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I'm in my 40s, which means I am irrelevant to all of today's politicians, who only care about 20-somethings and the latest social justice fad.

    I checked out of politics, social media, cable television, and most internet (save a few sites like this one) several years ago. I just ran out of fucks to give.

    I also live in a hard-red state which will never go blue, so I don't need to worry about voting either, so even if I did have some fucks to give, I wouldn't have to give them to politics.

    At the end of the day,

  • And there even are studies to prove it.

  • You have to go out of your way to find things to be upset about.

    • Yeah twitter cracks me up. Seems full of people who wake up in their apartment and head over to Starbucks for their $8 iced coffee, stroll into work at 930am, do some sort of meaningless social media engagement job, head home at 430pm and then proceed to talk about how shitty the world is, how fascists are trying to murder them, and how terfs are ruining the world.

      Then there are the digital beggars infesting it everywhere...

  • Just acknowledge that most, if not all of the world's government are plutocracies, that elections in almost all countries are a dog and pony show that don't really change anything for the average man on the street, and consequently stop caring and start enjoying real life until WW3 starts.

  • It's the Reporting, Not the Politics (Score:3)

    by Tempest_2084 ( 605915 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @01:39PM (#59288852)
    Politics are the same as they ever were, it's the reporting that's stressing people out. You have 24/7 news outlets with hours to fill so they just keep ranting about the same stuff for hours on end. Then you have dying newspapers that have to keep trying to be more over the top than the others just to get attention. They have to be sensationalist just to get noticed, and fear always drives ratings. Finally you have social media telling you what you should think and letting your friends know when you experience 'wrong-think'. It's a big mess, but there's a solution: IGNORE IT!. Find the least sensationalist media outlets out there (they still exist), take a deep breath, and make up your own mind on things.

    I have two different friends who were completely stressed out about what's going on in politics over the last few years (amusingly for two completely opposite reasons) that I finally convinced to stop watching the 24/7 news cycle and read just one or two things on politics a day (their choice on the source). They've both destressed dramatically after only a few months. Sure they're still concerned about what's going on, but they're not making themselves sick with worry or anger. That's the difference.

  • Yeah, my dad cared and it was the death of him (Score:3, Funny)

    by skinlayers ( 621258 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @01:39PM (#59288856)

    My father was the most politically aware person I knew. He was hospitalized after he reinjured his back the week before Trump's inauguration. When my dad was hospitalized, for the first time in his life, he just didn't want to hear the news. He just couldn't take it anymore with everything else he was dealing with. He died in the hospital from a sudden heart attack two weeks later. My father was not a healthy man (he walked with a cane, and was obese) but I honestly believe Trump pushed him over the edge.
    RIP Martin A Totusek
    1961-07-07:2017-01-28

    • I noticed your comment was rated 'funny".
      I was thinking the same thing, not it the 'haha he passed away' reason but just that it occured because of the news.
      Regardless, I am sorry for your loss.

  • My co-workers (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lucas123 ( 935744 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @01:42PM (#59288870) Homepage

    I have mostly liberal co-workers who absolutely lose their minds over Trump (or basically any GOP politician) and I simply remind them there's virtually NOTHING you can do about it until election day, and the only thing you can do then is vote. So protest as much as you like and vote.

    Just chill. This "us vs. them" attitude is garbage.

    I also remind them Trump is not Benito Mussolini reincarnated or a neofascist, no matter what his opponents and MSM opinion talking heads say. They say it to get page views and viewer ratings.

    Many of Trump's blunt policies appeal to Americans, and the overwhelming number of those Americans are not racists; They're simply tired of government not addressing pressing issues, like ignoring illegal immigration. So, Trump's blunt instrument approach (right or wrong) cuts through the red tape and gets to the heart of how people are feeling. Trump's simply a businessman/marketer with no couth, who has gotten his way throughout life by bullying and intimidation. He's a demagogue. His image should be underneath that word in the dictionary. When he lies or exaggerates, he's not doing it for your benefit; he know where his bread is buttered and he's playing to that audience.

    • One good thing I can say about Trump... he seems to have the sanest foreign policy when it comes to the middle east. Other than backing out of the Iran deal to tweak Obama... his refusal to get baited into war has been a big surprise.

    • Many of Trump's blunt policies appeal to Americans, and the overwhelming number of those Americans are not racists; They're simply tired of government not addressing pressing issues, like ignoring illegal immigration.

      I wouldn't say illegal immigration was being ignored. After all, Obama was labeled the Deporter in Chief for a reason. And anyhow, I doubt a very high percentage of Trump's supporters who have been whipped into a frenzy regarding illegal immigration have been directly negatively impacted by it

  • Politics is so polarized and coverage of it is so designed to cause an emotional response that it is really unhealthy to spend too much time thinking about it.
    I was previously someone who was constantly reading news and discussing current events online, but at some point I just realized that I was always fucking angry and I wasn't making any kind of meaningful change despite feeling horrible all the time.
    Nowadays the only news I read is news about technology and science like you see on Slashdot, and my me

  • TDS will be in the next version of the DSM.

  • What strikes me is the politicians seem to be catering for the most stupid. Parties are not only unable to corral their imbeciles but compete for the most rage inducing topics. It is not that we have no smart people in the U.S. It is not hard to find people who find the political circus insane. But somehow, we are all taken hostage by raging idiots.

    Something like a vicious circle. What smart, honest and sane person want to go into politics today ?

  • As a point of observation: this malady is highly dependent upon your political leanings. If your political views veer to the hard right, you're probably not nearly as stressed out right now as this article describes -- but rather, a great weight was lifted from your shoulders when Trump was elected. Likewise, if you skew hard left, you were probably light-hearted and carefree during Obama's two terms in office.

    It's also worth noting that many of those who fall closer to the middle ground probably don't get

  • Stop watching TV. Go outside, take a walk, hug a tree.... There are many better things to do for ones mental health.
  • But then I came to realize, there's nothing I can do to change any of it. I don't get to choose the candidates - smoky backroom deals sets all that up long before I get to the ballot box - and I'm not even sure my vote is counted thanks to electronics voting machines. The rich and powerful are dicing up the country, the planet itself may well become uninhabitable, and I don't have kids, so I say have at it. I'll live my years well, and best of luck to the rest of you. None of this was my choice. I have

  • In America, conservatives are generally happier [washingtontimes.com] and find more meaning [theatlantic.com] in life than liberals.

    One reasoning is that accepting that things are good enough the way they are is less stressful than perpetually pursuing perfection.

    Hell simply moving to the political center reduced my stress compared to my "Bush sucks!" liberal days... there's always something to like regardless of what party gets in power, as long as things don't move towards authoritarianism...

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Republicans want to send illegals back where they come from; jailing them is expensive. Republicans are generally more respectful of human rights regardless of sex. Mental illness should be treated sympathetically, but delusions should not be pandered to.

      • The problem is that there is no modern conservative party for people who aren't also socially regressive. To be a Republican, I'd have to be fine with putting immigrants in concentration camps, rolling back women's rights 50 years, and trying to make transgender people not exist. I don't think my conscience will let me do that.

        The reason you are stressed out is that you actually believe what you just wrote.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • We, in effect, married a narcissistic sociopath. He's got a fiendish knack for turning any story he comes near into something about him. He transgresses, then everyone else has to deal with his aggrieved victimhood.

    The truth is, he doesn't really matter that much. He'll spend his time in the spotlight, then willing or no, he'll be replaced. His relationships are transactional; he uses people, dangling promises in return. That means when he's out of office, he will leave no legacy. Just a mess.

    • Trump has already substantially improved the United States. If he leaves no legacy, it will be because his jealous successors destroy it.
  • This shows why we need Medicare for All.

  • Happiness is... (Score:3)

    by TigerPlish ( 174064 ) on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @03:51PM (#59289598)

    ...a day away from the TV ...a day away from work, ...a day away from the phone and radio.. ...a day at the outdoors rifle range ...a day at the disc golf course ...a solid hour at the piano ...anything that takes me away from the non-stop political shitshow I've been witnessing since 1974, which was my first exposure to Politics. Nixon. If you people think Trump is crazy, Tricky Dicky will heartily recalibrate your craycray meter.

    Nixon
    Barcelo vs. Cuchin (Puerto Rico 1980 General Elections)
    Carter. The Shah. The hostages.
    Reagan. ---- Iran/Contra, I have no recollection of those events...
    Bush the First.
    Clinton ---- the beginning of the sellout of america
    Bush the Second
    Obama

    All of the above make today look sane, Trump is just a continuation of the eternal shitshow.

    Tune out, go outside. Like I'm about to. 5 o'clock whistle's about to blow

  • The deplorables are excited about Trump because of how it makes the snowflakes feel. This report sounds like they're getting exactly what they wanted. They don't care what Trump is doing, so long as the right people feel hurt.
  • At least in the USA, the political scene has deteriorated to 'Lets impeach Trump' vs 'Let's not'. What else is being debated that I missed?

  • Politics is war by other means.

    Sometimes it breaks down. Then you get war by the usual means.

    Don't like it now? Hang in there. It can get a lot worse.

    Or you can try to do something niw to make it better. Maybe one person can't turn a stampede - but enough might, and if you don't succeed, at least you can console yourself that you tried.

    Your choice.

  • Then don't invest so much of yourself in it.

    Your political team can't always win. You will get a far bigger return investing all that energy into your family, friends, church, life ...

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