Election Stress Is Real: A Trauma Therapist's Guide to Caring for Yourself Before, During, and After the 2026 Midterms

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If your shoulders are up around your ears lately, you're not imagining it. The 2026 midterms are on Tuesday, November 3, and for weeks now many of us have been living inside a constant hum of attack ads, doom-scrolling, tense dinner tables, and quiet dread about what happens next.

In my practice, I'm hearing the same things from people across very different lives: I can't stop checking the news. I'm dreading Thanksgiving. I'm anxious about going to my polling place. I don't know what happens if (or even, when) the results aren't accepted. I feel trapped.

None of that means something is wrong with you. Your nervous system is doing exactly what it was built to do: scan for threat and try to keep you safe. The problem is that it was never designed to absorb a 24/7 stream of alarm. This post is about how to work with your nervous system instead of against it, so you can stay informed and engaged without being swallowed by it.

Wherever you land politically, these tools are for you.

Why Election Season Hits So Hard

Elections touch the deepest layers of how we feel safe in the world: our rights, our families, our communities, our sense of whether the systems around us will hold. For people with a history of trauma, and especially for those who have lived through instability, marginalization, or unpredictable authority figures, political conflict can feel less like "the news" and more like an old alarm going off in the body.

You're far from alone in this. In the American Psychological Association's 2024 Stress in America poll, 77% of U.S. adults named the future of the nation as a significant source of stress. Uncertainty is often harder on the nervous system than bad news. When we don't know what's coming, the mind fills in the blanks with worst-case scenarios. That's why so much election anxiety lives in the future: what if…?

1. Caring for Yourself Around the News and Commercials

Political ads are engineered to provoke fear, outrage, and urgency. That's not a side effect; it's the strategy. Knowing that can help you hold them at a distance.

• Choose your news windows. Pick one or two set times a day to check in (for example, 15 minutes at lunch and 15 in the early evening). Outside those windows, you're off duty.
• Avoid news first thing in the morning and right before bed. These are the moments your nervous system is most suggestible.
• Read rather than watch when you can. Text lets you set the pace. Video, sirens, and urgent music hit the body directly.
• Mute, skip, and stream ad-free where possible. You don't owe your attention to a 30-second fear campaign.
• Notice the hook. When an ad or headline spikes your heart rate, try naming it: "This is designed to scare me." Naming creates a little space between you and the reaction.

2. Navigating Social Media Without Getting Pulled Under

Social media algorithms reward the most inflammatory content, which means your feed is often a distorted, amplified version of reality.

• Curate ruthlessly. Mute keywords, unfollow accounts that leave you agitated, and follow a few things that reliably settle you: nature, art, animals, humor.
• Check in with your body before and after you scroll. If you feel worse after five minutes, that's useful data, not a personal failing.
• You don't have to respond. Arguing in the comments rarely changes minds and almost always costs you. Silence is not complicity; it can be self-preservation.
• Move apps off your home screen for the next few weeks, or use built-in screen-time limits. Adding friction helps break the reflexive reach.
• Be wary of unverified viral claims, especially on and after Election Day. Waiting for reliable confirmation protects both your peace and the information ecosystem.

3. The Conversations You Can't Avoid: Work, Family, and Out in Public

Sometimes you can't log off. The coworker who brings it up at every meeting, the relative at the holiday table, the stranger in line at the grocery store. Here's how to protect yourself when the conversation finds you.

• Decide your boundaries ahead of time. It's much easier to hold a line you chose calmly than one you're inventing mid-argument.
• Have a few exit phrases ready:
  
  • "I'm taking a break from politics for my own well-being. Can we talk about something else?"
  • "I care about you too much to fight about this right now."
  • "I hear that this matters to you. I'm not going to get into it today."
• At work, it's reasonable to redirect: "Let's keep this meeting on the project." If it becomes hostile or harassing, that's an HR conversation, not something you have to tolerate.
• With family, remember that the relationship is bigger than this moment. You can love someone and still decline to debate them. If a gathering consistently feels unsafe, it's okay to shorten your visit, bring a support person, or skip it.
• In public, you have no obligation to engage. A neutral "Mm," a nod, and stepping away is enough.
• Get curious, if you have capacity. From an Internal Family Systems lens, the loudest, most rigid positions are often protective parts carrying a lot of fear. You don't have to agree to soften toward the fear underneath. But only if you have the bandwidth; this is optional, not required.

4. If You're Anxious About Going to Vote

For some people, the act of voting itself brings up fear: crowds, confrontation, people electioneering outside the polls, or worry about officials or poll watchers behaving aggressively. Planning ahead turns some of that unknown into known.

• Make a voting plan. Know your polling place, its hours, and what you need to bring. Check whether early voting or mail/drop-box voting is available to you; for many people, avoiding Election Day lines removes a big source of stress.
• Bring a buddy. Going with a friend, partner, or neighbor helps your nervous system feel less alone.
• Pick a quieter time if you're voting in person. Mid-morning and early afternoon are often calmer than right before or after work.
• Know your rights. Voter intimidation is illegal under federal law. If something happens at your polling place, you can talk to a poll worker, and you can call the nonpartisan Election Protection hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) for help.
• Prepare a grounding anchor for the line: slow exhales (make the out-breath longer than the in-breath), pressing your feet into the floor, holding a smooth stone in your pocket, or a calming playlist.
• Plan something kind for afterward. A walk, a favorite coffee, a call with someone you love. Give your body a signal that the hard part is over.

5. Fear About What Comes After the Election

Many people aren't just anxious about Election Day. They're anxious about the days and weeks after: contested results, slow counts, protests, and the possibility of unrest. That fear is understandable. Here's how to hold it without letting it run your life.

• Expect results to take time. Close races, mail ballots, and recounts are a normal part of the process. A slow count is not, by itself, a sign that something has gone wrong. Setting this expectation in advance can prevent a lot of election-night spiraling.
• Don't stay up refreshing. Sleep is one of the most protective things you can give your nervous system. The results will be there in the morning.
• Separate "prepared" from "panicked." It's reasonable to know how you'd reach your people, keep your phone charged, and avoid areas of active unrest. Beyond that, ask yourself: is this planning, or is this anxiety looking for something to do?
• Stay connected to your community. Isolation amplifies fear. Plan to be with (or in touch with) people who feel safe on election night and the days after.
• Limit exposure to footage of conflict. Repeated viewing of distressing images can affect the body in ways that resemble direct exposure. You can stay informed through brief, reliable written updates.

6. When You Feel Trapped

This may be the hardest one to name. Many people are telling me they feel trapped, like the ground is less solid than it used to be. When public figures openly question whether they'll accept results or step aside for a peaceful transition, it can shake a basic assumption most of us have relied on: that the rules will hold.

That feeling of being trapped deserves compassion, not dismissal. In trauma work, we know that "trapped" is a particular kind of distress: it's what the body feels when it senses threat but can't fight or flee. Common responses include shutting down, numbness, hopelessness, irritability, or a restless, can't-sit-still agitation. If you recognize yourself here, you're not broken. Your body is responding to a real sense of powerlessness.

The antidote to "trapped" is rarely a single big solution. It's small, repeated experiences of agency and connection:

• Find your circle of influence. You can't control national outcomes. You can vote (and track your vote at vote.org), check on a neighbor, volunteer locally, donate to a cause you believe in, or support someone who's struggling. Small actions tell the nervous system, "I am not helpless."
• Move your body. Trapped energy wants somewhere to go. Walking, shaking out your arms, dancing in your kitchen, pushing against a wall: these help complete the stress response so it doesn't stay stuck.
• Orient to the present. Look around the room and name five things you see. Notice that, in this moment, you are here and you are okay. Fear lives in the future; your body lives in now.
• Remember the long view. History is full of difficult, uncertain chapters that people survived together, often through ordinary acts of courage and care. You're part of that lineage.
• Let yourself grieve. Sometimes what we call anxiety is grief for the world we hoped for. Grief needs space, not fixing.

Everyday Nervous System Care for Election Season

• Protect sleep like it's an appointment. No screens for 30 to 60 minutes before bed.
• Eat regular meals and stay hydrated. Stress makes it easy to forget the basics, and blood sugar crashes amplify anxiety.
• Get outside daily, even for ten minutes. Natural light and open sky are regulating.
• Try a simple breath: inhale for 4, exhale for 6 to 8. A longer exhale signals safety to your body.
• Use touch: a hand on your heart, a weighted blanket, a hug from someone you trust, time with your pet.
• Make room for joy without guilt. Laughing, creating, and resting are not betrayals of what's happening in the world. They are how we stay human enough to keep showing up.
• Watch your coping shortcuts. If you notice yourself drinking more, scrolling for hours, or withdrawing from people, treat that as a signal to reach for support.

When to Reach Out for Support

It's normal to feel stressed right now. It may be time to talk to a therapist if:

• Anxiety is disrupting your sleep, work, or relationships for more than a couple of weeks
• You feel persistently hopeless, numb, or disconnected
• Election stress is stirring up old trauma, panic attacks, or intrusive memories
• You're relying more and more on substances or avoidance to get through the day

Therapy approaches like EMDR, IFS, and somatic work can help your system process what's activated, so you can respond to the world from a steadier place rather than from survival mode. If you're curious what that work looks like, you can read how EMDR, IFS, and somatic therapy work together, or what EMDR actually feels like from the inside.

If you are in crisis or having thoughts of harming yourself, call or text 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or, in an emergency, call 911.

You Don't Have to Carry This Alone

Caring for yourself right now isn't checking out. It's how you stay resourced enough to keep caring about your family, your community, and the world. Turn the volume down where you can, lean on your people, take one small step of agency at a time, and let your body know, again and again, that in this moment, you're okay.

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About Thomas Blake Therapy

Thomas Blake, LMFT, is a trauma-informed therapist specializing in EMDR, Internal Family Systems (IFS), somatic therapy, complex and developmental trauma, LGBTQ+ affirming care, and psychedelic integration. He sees clients in person at his Pasadena office at 210 S Orange Grove Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91105, and via telehealth across California, New Jersey, Maryland, Wyoming, and Idaho. Schedule a free 15-minute consultation.

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