How to Deal With Election Stress

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With 4 days left until the blessed end of the 2016 campaign, the LA Times goes into full “news you can use” mode and assures us that you can do something about election stress:

Election stress disorder1 may not be well known, but it’s definitely real, and its impact should not be dismissed, said Dr. Asim Shah, vice chair for community psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

….Of 3,500 adults surveyed in August, APA researchers found that 55% of Democrats and 59% of Republicans said the election is a “very significant” or “somewhat significant” source of stress….For those who want tips on how to manage their stress between now and Tuesday night, Shah offers the following advice:

  1. Turn off the TV news
  2. Write down your worst fears, then address them
  3. Remember that very little will change overnight
  4. If you must, ask your doctor for medication.
  5. If your candidate wins, take it easy on election night

Hmmm. Apparently Shah recommends turning off TV news, but not avoiding print news—like the LA Times. Coincidence? Or conspiracy between the psychological establishment and the dead-tree media diehards? I suspect the latter. Can I trust the print media anymore? Can I trust their polls? I’M NOT SURE!!! How can I know what’s true anymore? HOW CAN I KNOW??? Is Hillary really ahead? Or is it Trump? OMG, it’s been 20 minutes since I checked with Nate Silver the god. Excuse me while I go see what he has to say.

1That’s ESD, not to be confused with ED or PSD or PTSD.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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