A cure for political depression register to vote – San Francisco Chronicle

Photo: John Davenport, San Antonio Express-News

Here is a therapeutic option: Register to vote. Engagement and action are the twin enemies of depression.

Here is a therapeutic option: Register to vote. Engagement and...

Depression comes in several forms that are sometimes interlinked. Adult males, who found themselves unemployed and unable to support their families during the Great Depression, were psychologically depressed, as sociologist R.C. Angell documented in 1936. In retrospect, the connection is obvious: Rather than faulting a faltering economy, many of the fathers and husbands blamed themselves. That linkage reappeared some 80 years later, when widespread mortgage failures in the wake of the 2008 economic collapse of the big banks were accompanied by a spike in psychological depression. There is another form of depression not as well understood, not as well characterized, and far less well known: political depression.

It is a phenomenon that surfaces when people feel dismayed or apprehensive about the political landscape, while simultaneously feeling that they are unable to act in a way that might alter the overwhelming sense of impending doom. In the wake of Trumps surprising victory in the 2016 election, a good segment of the population fell into what could be just so diagnosed. Psychiatrists across the country reported an unusual spike in patients complaining about a new or at least unusual form of depression, something not easily characterized as a familiar psychological malaise.

Across a broad range of age and class divisions, and across the nation, many remain deeply disturbed by Donald Trumps presidency in ways that are both politically unique and potentially invigorating while simultaneously potentially debilitating.

While any attempt to sharply distinguish political depression from psychological depression is unlikely to succeed, the exercise could be useful because the cure or the therapy would be different. For example, a range of websites have generated to-do lists to try to get people mobilized for political action. Many of these have thoughtful and reasonable suggestions, but the sheer magnitude of so many scores of options can be overwhelming. We are witnessing a sense of malaise because of the perceived barriers to taking action.

So here is an alternative therapeutic option: Register to vote. Engagement and action are the twin enemies of depression.

Approximately 100 million Americans who were eligible to vote in 2016 did not bother. It is safe to assume that at least half of the voters in the last election know one person in their direct orbit who did not vote, often in their own family, certainly in their friendship circle, church, or workplace. Quite different from often impersonal voter registration drives what one person can do is attempt and often achieve a goal that is best enabled one-on-one. Why not put at the top of the to-do list each one, register one?

If everyone who voted pledged to find someone who did not, and get them to register, that very engagement could help vault a lot of people out of their political depression. Most significantly, if you can see your individual action as linking up to a larger movement, this single act is more easily converted into a sense of making a difference, and thus personal empowerment.

So why not try to persuade a colleague, friend, relative or neighbor to register to vote, and see how much better you feel. Its a lot cheaper than a drug, and the side effects are likely to be positive.

Troy Duster is emeritus Chancellors Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley.

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A cure for political depression register to vote - San Francisco Chronicle