(WHTM) — On this week’s Hot Topic Tuesday, abc27’s Valerie Pritchett and special guest is Dr. John Gavazzi, a clinical psychologist, talk about the upcoming election and mental health.

We are just over two months away from election day and an annual mental health poll from the American Psychiatric Association revealed when it comes to the election 73% cited it as the cause for their anxiety.

“Anytime you perceive something to be a threat, and for people the election could possibly be a threat, whether it’s ambiguity, not knowing what the future holds or in fact they’re going to be harmed in some way,” Gavazzi said. “So we respond to psychological threats the same way we respond to physical threats.” Gavazzi also explained how the stress we feel could be the adrenaline going through us.

While for what signs to lookout for, Gavazzi said about struggling to eat or sleep because of the stress, which leads to productivity decreasing.

“If your sleep is disturbed, energy level goes down, motivation goes down, your not thinking quite right, so concentration, attention to tasks, completing tasks, all of those could potentially be compromised,” Gavazzi said.

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And the holiday’s will come not long after the election- and there will be gatherings, friends and family- what the best way to deal with political conversations.

Gavazzi gave tips on how to deal with those conversations such as “set healthy boundaries, talk to people ahead of time and say ‘hey look, no politics at the table’ or ‘we are not going to focus on that this year.'” If that still doesn’t work, Gavazzi said to just ignore them.

As for tips for ourselves and what we can do, Gavazzi said to stay off social media and to do all self-care things.

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