Post-Election: How is Our Mental Health? by Peter Goldie

In the wake of the 2016 U.S. election, mental health is crucial and must be acknowledged. For many people, including people of color, low SES, the LGBT community, chronically ill people, differently abled people, and many other marginalized populations, an intolerant person coming to power has been devastating (Clarridge, 2017). For example, refugees (who already have disproportionately high rates of mental health issues) are likely to be negatively affected by the overt anti-immigrant attitudes of the Trump administration (Parmet, Sainsbury-Wong, & Prabhu, 2017). Furthermore, The Economist (2016) discusses the damaging economic issues (e.g. lowering taxes for the upper-class) and policy changes (e.g. tighter immigration laws) that Trump has created in less than one year, many of which are damaging systematically disadvantaged people. He will be in office for at least three more; mental health interventions and access to mental health resources are more important now than ever before.

References

Clarridge, C. (2017). Mental health therapists see uptick in patients struggling with post election anxiety. Retrieved from http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/ct-mental-health-postelection-anxiety-20170329-story.html

Parmet, W., Sainsbury-Wong, L., Prabhu, M. (2017). Immigration and health: Law, policy, and ethics. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 45, 55-59.

The Economist. (2016). The economic consequences of Donald Trump. Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2016/11/global-economy

 

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