Politics Is Breaking Us — Just Ask These Therapists

The political therapy boom has arrived. 

This was in my in-box Saturday morning: 

Good morning. American politics have been deemed broken for years. But now, they're sending people to therapy.

It’s the relentless barrage of crises flashing across our screens, the hours of doomscrolling, each post more unnerving than the last. POLITICO Magazine’s Catherine Kim digs into the rise of political anxiety and the therapists treating it.

Some recommend a media detox; others suggest “radical acceptance" — coming to peace with situations out of one’s control — or turning toward activism. They treat liberal and conservative patients alike. And business is booming.

“I think the impact of politics on well-being is going to be hard this year,” political scientist Kevin Smith, who also runs a political anxiety workshop, tells Catherine. “I think it is probably going to be worse in 2028.” 

The best takeaway for the article:

Beyond recommending a media detox, therapists have a few other prescriptions (aside from the pharmaceutical kind). Some point to radical acceptance: the art of coming to peace with situations one can’t control, so an inability to change things doesn’t turn into suffering. Others suggest shifting approaches to activism, perhaps writing letters to lawmakers instead of attending protests in person.

But if engaging with civic life increasingly requires emotional coping strategies, what does sustained participation in democracy look like for a stressed and divided public?

The worst-case scenario, for the country, if not for one’s psyche, is total withdrawal.