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Psychiatrist weighs in on post-election stress and how to cope
Whether your candidate won or lost Tuesday night, it's safe to say the American Electorate has been on quite the roller coaster ride.
FOX 2 - Whether your candidate won or lost Tuesday night, it's safe to say the American Electorate has been on quite the roller-coaster ride.
"There's a lot of fear, anxiety - some people are jovial - some people are lamenting," said Dr. Ibrahim Sablaban. "Pretty much every emotion across the spectrum you can think of - we're experiencing collectively as a nation right now."
Sablaban is a psychiatrist with Beaumont Behavioral Health, part of Corewell Health.
"It was a contentious environment with a lot of passions and emotions flaring over the last few months," he said. "And that takes a toll psychologically."
That's why some people might need to step away from social media, but that's not all.
Dr. Sablaban says we need to get back to basics like enough sleep, healthy eating - and then reconnect with what's important to us - with more clarity.
"We live in a Democratic nation - every election is in itself, a transitory event," he said. "We have another election in a few years - all of the causes that people are passionate about still exist. People are going to wake up tomorrow and they're still going to care about them."
But if you're struggling, he recommends talking to friends - your physician, even a therapist if needed. And as we head into the holidays it might be a good idea to agree to keep politics out of family conversations.
"If there's an impasse - if there's a disagreement you can't get around, you really have to basically weigh your options and say okay what do I care about right now," he said. "Do I want the relationship with my brother, father, spouse, child - do I want that - do I want to nourish that - do I want to be able to enjoy the holidays - do I want to be able to enjoy the next few months."
Sablaban said there is much more to life than politics and we should embrace and enjoy it.
"It's really important that you take care of yourself," he said. "And nobody - or ideally nobody's asking anybody to give up what they believe in. That's what makes you - you. So you shouldn't give those things up - but you should certainly take care of yourself."