Credit: (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
From a presidential election to school shootings and international conflicts, from drone sightings to foodborne illnesses, 2024 was an anxious, stressful and grief-stricken year for many people throughout New Jersey and across the country.
This year, 43% of adults said they feel more anxious than they did in recent years, up from 37% in 2023 and 32% in 2022, according to the American Psychiatric Association. Additionally, over a quarter of Americans say they expect more stress this holiday season than in 2023, according to a monthly poll recently released by the association. Many adults cite finances, grief and family concerns as significant sources of stress.
Young people, in particular, are feeling the weight of these burdens. Younger adults are “significantly more likely” than older adults to worry about affording and finding holiday gifts, challenging family dynamics, discussing politics with loved ones and loneliness during the holidays, the poll says.
Studies over the years have shown that young people have more anxiety than older people, said Dr. Gary Small, the chair of psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center. Stressors can stem from concerns about school, their careers, finding a partner, having families and a lot of milestones that many want to achieve, which can be overwhelming, according to Small. This is exacerbated by social media, Small said, because social media takes all these natural human feelings and escalates them.
What to do
“It’s peer pressure on steroids when you start looking at all your so-called friends on your social media accounts where everybody seems to be doing better than you might be doing or … the FOMO [fear of missing out] experience,” said Small.
“I think that’s a big challenge, is how to help young people adjust to all these changes and help them spend time offline so they can connect face to face with family and friends, which is a much more emotionally impactful way of relating to others,” said Small.
Other mental health professionals, including Neha Darji of Mount Laurel-based We Rise Therapy & Wellness, recommend setting phone reminders for mental wellness check-ins throughout the day, which can include a five- to 10-minute “mindful walk” or five minutes of meditative breathing, she said. Darji also said that a healthy sleep routine, eating meals at the same time every day and limiting media exposure can be helpful during this time of year.
For more on the stress and anxiety impacting many people throughout the state this year and during the holidays, here are excerpts from related NJ Spotlight News stories:
Finances and family bring on more holiday stress
E. coli outbreaks. Toxic chemicals in household products. The COVID-19 pandemic. A presidential election.
These recent events, compounded by social media chatter and news reports about them, have caused concern and fear among many in New Jersey and across the country. These sources of daily stress over external events, which often feel like they are out of a person’s control, can become a significant source of anxiety in a person’s life, experts say.
“Sometimes those collective stressors, like not knowing what’s safe and not knowing what to do about it can actually create collective trauma,” Dr. Stephanie Marcello, the chief psychologist of Rutgers Health University Behavioral Health Care, said in a recent interview with NJ Spotlight News. Marcello cited the COVID-19 pandemic as a collective trauma people across the country are enduring.
Read the full story here.
Holiday stress is up
Grief for lost loved ones. Worries about affording groceries and rent. Tense family dynamics. Or just loneliness.
These are just some of the emotions that go into holiday stress and can bring added anxiety to an already anxious time. According to a monthly poll recently released by the American Psychiatric Association, over a quarter of Americans say they are more stressed this holiday season than in 2023, mostly citing financial and family concerns.
In New Jersey, that stress has been keenly felt especially in the aftermath of the national election, according to health experts and practitioners.
“My patients are dealing with stress of being immigrants or children of immigrants in their family and being unclear about their safety in this country,” said Dr. Jennifer Chuang, the section chief of adolescent medicine at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson. “That is definitely weighing on the shoulders of these young adults and youth.”
The holidays are also stressful for young people who are struggling with body image and eating disorders, according to Chuang.
Read the full story here.
Feeling election stress? Just about everyone is
Like a majority of voters across the state and around the country, Tatiana Ishod of Gloucester County is feeling anxious about Tuesday’s election.
“I think there’s a lot more at stake for more people this election, and I feel that everyone senses that [and] everyone can feel that,” Ishod, 25, said last week after leaving RiverWinds Community Center, an in-person early voting location in West Deptford. “It’s a big decision that we have to live with for the next four years, so I don’t think people are taking it lightly.”
Stress related to the 2024 election is slightly higher than for the 2020 election, but significantly higher than for the 2016 election, according to a recent report from the American Psychological Association. Stress related to the current election appears to be driven, in part, by the potential consequences of the election results, according to the report.
In New Jersey, a majority of voters also expressed some kind of dread when asked about how they feel about the 2024 presidential election, according to a recent poll from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.
Read the full story here.
