Election Results are soon out but What about Politician’s Mental Health

Election results are around the corner, and everyone has their eyes fixed on exit polls. India is one of the largest democracies across the globe, elections hold a special place in our national dynamics with every section of people coming together to express their views. But what about the politicians? With them being the pawns of the political game, the mental health of politicians is at risk.

The uncertainty of results: While for most people, election results do not affect them primarily, politicians have everything at stake. Such uncertainty regarding their basic vocation and social image can affect the probability of increased chances of mental illness. Symptoms of anxiety and depression are often found in such time if continued for a prolonged period.

Social media trolls: Not only the results of uncertainty can cause emotional turmoil, but social media and the voice of opponent party members can be hurtful and disturb self-image. Politicians, out of all the famous people, often get maximum hatred from the masses without much sympathy gained like other people with stardoms. This hatred can frequently affect a personal image.

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Politicians are represented as corrupt: Most often, politicians are considered as hungry for power and misuse their authority in corruption. Politician with generalizations is usually not even associated with a noble profession anymore. We might have never heard of a kid who says I want to become a politician when I grow up. Though this perspective has been because of cases of scams and illegal activities through politicians, it is not appropriate to label everyone with one trait.

Personal life targeted: For politicians, like some other celebrities, their family and close friends also become victims of hatred from the masses even when they are not anyhow involved in political scenarios. Children of politicians are dragged into disrespectful rumours, these frequently have a direct impact on the politician itself. Having a shield of positive emotional regulation to protect oneself is built with experience, but to protect and keep their family away from the hatred spread by politics often come up with mental difficulties where a politician might feel guilty about how they cannot protect their own family, or their ambitions are directly affecting the peace of their loved ones.

Incivility and misconduct: While social media trolls can be bearable to some extent, mental well-being is directly compromised when unacceptable and disrespectful remarks are implied which are often insulting in nature, showcasing the faults or insecurities of a person that are sometimes not even relevant to the political dynamics.

Hiding mental illness: Politicians are expected to maintain a social image of them being fierce and always strong. Mental health has a wide spectrum of stigmas and stereotypes in Indian society. If a common man accepts his difficulty in maintaining a healthy mental well-being, many people often categorise them as mad, we can imagine the difficulty of a politician who has to hide his struggle to have a positive self-image. Ex Australian prime minister has proved how he handles his position even while facing mental illness and was under medicinal treatment.\

Read More: Australian former prime minister admits to struggling with anxiety 

Dealing with it– With politics often called a dirty game, politicians have to build armour to protect their mental peace. Developing as well as practising personalized coping strategies can be the key. With the instability of support from the masses, self-esteem must be focused on a close socio-emotional support network instead of the opinion of the masses that change from worshipping to boycotting based on media management tactics. We as citizens, must often remember that even politicians have the basic right to have healthy mental well-being that must not be compromised based on our casual remarks that can be disheartening.

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