Feeling anxious about the upcoming election? Here’s help

University of Utah Lifelong Learning instructor Debbie Leaman says the upcoming general election is quite simply “stressing us all out.”

According to the American Psychiatric Association ’s annual mental health poll, 73% of respondents reported feeling anxious about the upcoming national election.

A higher percentage of respondents said the election made them feel anxious than those who identified current events and gun violence. Only the economy, which 77% of the sample of more than 2,200 adults who responded to the poll said made them anxious, was higher. The poll was conducted April 9-11, 2024.

The poll also showed that adults are feeling increasingly anxious. In 2024, 43% of adults said they feel more anxious than they did the previous year, up from 37% in 2023 and 32% in 2022.

Leaman recommends writing as a means to better cope. Starting Sept. 7, she will be teaching a Lifelong Learning course on five successive Saturday mornings titled “ Writing as a Tool to Cope with Anxiety. ”

“The good news? Writing can help. Studies have shown that unloading persistent thoughts onto the page can alleviate anxiety, provide distance, and a new perspective. In my class we’ll learn how putting pen to paper can help re-center us and calm our minds.”

The class is one of seven being offered by Lifelong Learning this fall.

The other six class offerings include:

• The Voice of Reason: Writing Letters to the Editor
• Beyond the Headlines: Fact-Checking and Media Literacy
• Applied Somatics: Practices for Turbulent Times
• A Change in Dialogue: Effective Communication
• Adobe InDesign: Creating a Basic Newsletter
• An Introduction to Antidiscrimination Response

To register for the classes, which have limited enrollment, visit the university’s Lifelong Learning website.

Lifelong Learning has been offering non-credit classes to the community for more than 60 years, which run the gamut of one-day workshops to eight-week courses taught by local experts. Admission to the University of Utah is not required.

The University Connected Learning is based in Salt Lake City was founded in 1906. It enrolls more than 25,000 learners annually, from all over the world. To learn more, visit www.ucl.utah.edu