One week before Election Day and voters across the country were filling out their ballots. Along with that warm sense of civic pride, there may be another feeling: anxiety. Health professionals are warning that, along with a lot of passion, this election has also stirred up a lot of fear.
Along with all the heat and bluster of the 2024 Presidential election there is also a lot of fears being raised. Delivering his ballot at the Contra Costa County Elections Office on Tuesday, resident John Netherton felt the future of the country hangs on his vote. "I think this is the most important election I've ever been involved in.
Our country's in trouble and we're going the wrong way," he told CBS News Bay Area. "Anxiety is different for different people. And I suffer from anxiety to start with, so.
.." Netherton has a lot of company.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has found that 73% of Americans are extremely anxious about the upcoming election. Dr. Petros Levounis, past president of the APA, said his institution asked him to clear his schedule on November 5, Election Day, for patients who may need help.
"And this is something we see every four years," he said. "It does happen, but it is extreme this year. And it's not only because the election is very close, as most people say, but it's also because the social media have been polarizing people.
" At Kaiser Permanente, behavioral health director Dr. Nicole Ibarra said mental health clinicians are seeing a rise in patients se.