With one of the most acidic presidential election races in recent history drawing to a close in just a few days, emotions are running rampant and anxieties are spiked as friends, family, strangers, protesters, politicians, and pundits are all reaching a brutal boiling point regardless of party affiliation as they fight online, in person, over the phone, and over television.

The emotional trauma of the election between incumbent Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden has also been escalated by a pandemic that has caused a lockdown in the state for over seven months and seems to have no end in sight.

I think theres a lot of uncertainty in general about life, politics, the future, and where were headed, said Donna Schneider, a licensed clinical social worker and administrative director of inpatient behavioral health at Eastern Connecticut Health Network. Its definitely causes a lot of tension. People are overwhelmed.

She said differences of opinion have caused people to have a hard time communicating and a major influence on the communication breakdown is media consumption.

People need to get away from that, Schneider said, and unplug themselves from the day to day because it can be overwhelming.

Dr. Jamshid Marvasti, a psychiatrist with ECHN, said people tend to watch political news based on their ideology.

They watch certain news media and never anything else, he said, adding people will never watch news that people with opposing points of view watch.

I find from a psychological point of view it is human nature, he said. We like to hear the good news even if it is not fact and avoid bad news even if it is truth. This is human behavior. Some people they only watch TV on the basis of what makes them feel good. Its a conflict. What makes them good is on the basis of what matches their personality, their ideology, and their political direction.

Marvasti said some people exhibit a political stubbornness with a my way or the highway attitude.

There are people who grow up with discipline of that idea being black and white and nothing in between, he said. Its very difficult to change them. We need a culture to teach people how to appreciate each other. They need to know that if someone has a different opinion, they dont deserve to be killed or hated. That is very important. People need to tolerate the opposite ideas of someone else and not hate that someone else.

Marvasti used religion as an example of hate on a more global scale versus the microcosm of national politics, and said religious leaders should take responsibility for their actions in spreading hate.

If you are born in Saudi Arabia, youd be Sunni Muslim; in Israel, Jewish; in Ireland youd be Catholic, he said. We kill each other because mine is better than yours and you need to be like me. In some ways, religious leaders have a responsibility to tell their followers you dont need to hate someone because of a different religion.

Household concerns also escalate the anxieties that can be produced during an election, Marvasti said.

People are concerned about their job, about having food for their children, about the infection, what happens to my children if I die? he said. Its anxiety producing. It is a warning pain that something is wrong.

He said the problem with the culture of the United States, and which many psychiatrists are concerned about, is division, especially when it is encouraged by leaders; because of the COVID-19 pandemic, people arent able to address those anxieties as they normally would.

There are issues we have now that cause anxiety and depression that things are going not the way they want, he said.

What I see more are people staying at home, and not going out and venting with each other, including venting about the election, he said. Their routine is changed because of the virus. The virus becomes political and we have another problem, because their political ideology of the virus is another problem.

Schneider said she has seen a growing concern among the older population.

Social isolation has been incredibly difficult. That, compiled with the fact theyre home, day in and day out, all the political stuff back and forth on TV. It becomes scarier by the moment. I think those anxieties continue to mount. People dont have the ability to get away from it as they would have years ago when there was tension over political activities and elections. Theyre having difficulty functioning with all of this.

Schneider said people need to unplug from the media for awhile and just check in on the news periodically to recenter themselves.

I think unplugging from it, trying to make connections with family and friends through virtual means or sitting outside in the fresh air. Do relaxation techniques, maintain positivity, journaling, maintain structure to their day. Find new ways to celebrate and explore topics that will take their minds away from that, even if its momentarily. I think for people in particular who are struggling, this is exacerbated.

We are in a position to exaggerate this election because it is mixed with the virus, mixed with the isolation, Marvasti said. We cant go to the movies; we cant go to the bars. The TV and news media is the only pleasure and involvement they have. I would tell people that they need a vacation from TV, from news media.

He also said our perspective tends to cloud what the truth is.

We dont see things as they are, we see things as we are, he said. Ideology is the glasses that we have. Clean your glasses. I would say to people who are very anxious that you are focusing outside focus inside. Your brain creates the anxiety. There are some techniques people can use; not changing their ideology, or religion, but changing the way they look outside. You cannot control the outside. You need to focus on the inside. We have control of how we perceive it. The kind of feeling they create is not the news media, its me. My central nervous system. The transmitters in my brain. That is what you need to control, what you need to master. You can be hateful, or you can analyze yourself. Why does this news make me want to scream and run in the street? You need to tell yourself that this is me other than the news media.

Marvasti said some people will turn to substance abuse such as alcohol to try to gain that control, but people need to find healing from inside, and not from outside substances.

We are sensitive, he said. We should be sensitive. We need to control. We need to master. We need to not be controlled by this feeling of hate and rage. Were killing each other. We are talking about ordinary people. Ordinary people need to focus on themselves and their own feelings and consider themselves responsible for part of that feeling rather than blaming the news media. The feeling is coming from the inside of me. The news media only brings it to the surface.

Marvasti said the first thing that needs to take place is self-observation.

You need to look inside of yourself. Its feeding from me, not the news media. Someone else can look at the news media and not get this feeling or get the opposite feeling. We need to have a self-perception. We have a certain amount of power over this feeling.

It is very difficult because we project the blame: They made me angry. They made me upset. He really insulted me. He put me down. These things are internal feelings. I will not take responsibility for my feelings, its him or her who made me angry or upset.

This is not to say that negative feelings arent justifiable or unwarranted, Marvasti said, but that its the behavior associated with those feelings that people should be in control of, a psychological medicine practice called cognitive behavioral therapy.

It is their interpretation of events that caused that feeling, he said. If they are able to change the interpretation, then that feeling will not be there.

Some people get violent, he said. Some people get aggressive. Its behavior we need to control. I can get angry at someone, but I dont punch him. People need to have self-analysis. To teach people if you analyze yourself and see how you feel rather than the outside.

Since the advent of social media, behavior may not be perceived as aggression as physical violence isnt an immediate option during an argument. Schneider said the best thing to do instead of getting dragged into vitriolic environments is to unplug from it.

Theres nothing good from going back and forth in that kind of way, she said.

I see sometimes people insulting each other with very bad words, Marvasti said. He said not to get mixed up in commentary with people having extreme opinions.

I see a lot of these things in social media, he said. That is the culture. It has nothing to do with freedom of information. Its culture. We are going beyond that. Leaders need to set the limit, to put the boundary of how far you can go in insulting someone else. I believe that in the future people can come in the middle.

Schneider said if someone realizes they are becoming self-destructive in their behavior because of their interaction on social media or with family or from the consumption of news media, its important to reach out and get help from family or a therapist.

When it gets to that point, it gets beyond just self-help. It would be great for people to reach out and get the help that they need.

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Does the election have you steaming? Mental health experts say to pull the plug - Journal Inquirer