Anxiety Reactions of Adults and Children in

Today’s Political Climate Need to Be Recognized

I am a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. After practicing for three decades with children, teens, and adults I have found today’s political climate is feeling threatening to many people I treat. While many children and adults who suffer from anxiety disorders seek treatment with psychotherapy and often medication, recently I am finding children and adults are reporting increased anxiety due to what they are hearing in the news.

The Major Themes

The major themes are a generalized feeling of increased distrust and lack of safety. Children who hear their parents discuss politics and news events of shootings and crude statements by political candidates increase their fears of loss of their parents or harm coming to them and themselves. When they hear political talk by their teachers and see security provisions such as security guards in their schools they are frightened. It is essential that adults restrict their kids’ exposure to talk about the news and prevent their kids from watching TV news programs with frightening graphics and content.