The election may be over, but for some people, the political disagreements it brought up could continue to affect friendships, family relationships and conversations with neighbors.
Dr. Arash Javanbakht, a professor of psychiatry at Wayne State University and author of Afraid: Understanding the Purpose of Fear and Harnessing the Power of Anxiety, says people who are frustrated with election results or political decisions should focus on what they can control rather than directing anger toward others.
“If you're frustrated again by some policies, some results, some challenges, you can do a lot of things again. Focus on what you can do, rather than sitting here and suing and hating others,” Javanbakht said.
He encourages people to turn frustration into action that helps others, such as volunteering or supporting people in their communities.
“Let me go join a charitable work that is helping them or supporting them, or go to their home and bring some food to them. So turn it to action if you have frustration,” he said.
Repairing Relationships After Political Disagreements
For relationships strained by a social media post or a heated conversation, Javanbakht says repairing the damage can start with humility.
“So none of us are prophets. We don't have any obligation to guide the other person to what we think is correct. And I believe a certain level of humility is required here,” he said.
Javanbakht says people's political views can change over time, and that should leave room for others to change their minds, too.
“I have changed my mind, so I can change my mind in the future also, and so can the other person,” he said.
He says people should avoid assuming someone with a different political perspective is a bad person.
“It's not that they are evil people. They may be wrong. I may be wrong,” Javanbakht said.
Instead, he encourages people to remember that relationships often have more in common than political disagreements.
“But at the end of the day, as two people, we share a ton more than our political views,” he said.
Finding Common Ground
Dr. Javanbakht says people can reconnect by talking about everyday interests rather than focusing only on politics.
He points to his own relationship with a neighbor who has different political views.
“My neighbor and I are from different political views. We talk about our lawn. We talk about our dogs. We can go for a bike ride. We talk about fishing. There's a lot of other things we can share with people,” he said.
Those shared experiences can create opportunities for people to listen to one another and become more open to discussing their differences, he said.
“Listening is something that is missing, unfortunately, in this world. We gotta close our mouth and open our ears and listen to each other a little bit more,” Javanbakht said.
His advice for people dealing with post-election anger, frustration or fear is to turn those feelings into something that benefits someone else.
“The best advice I can have is that if you have anger, frustration, fear, turn it into action. Do something that will help someone else and change someone else's life in a good place,” he said.