Our Anxiety Can be Reduced by Addressing the World’s Problems (article)

Anxiety, aside from its intrapsychic causes, should be examined in terms of major societal issues such as the threats of climate change, nuclear mistakes, and deliberate nuclear war. When my brothers and I were in grade school, we had to hide under our desks during a drill in case of an air attack; as a result of her horror at our being subjected to this, my mother became an anti-nuclear activist and spent decades working for an anti-nuclear proliferation treaty. Until the threat to U.S. democracy from Trump and the issues about racism created our current consequential historical moment, my own primary concern, overarching all others, was environmental destruction (climate change). My concern began in the 1950s when construction started on the Interstate Highway System and was heightened in 1962 by Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. Since then, I have spoken out about environmental deterioration with almost everyone I meet, starting with taxi drivers. Almost universally I hear anxiety and helplessness.

However, today I am also anxious about ethnic and race relations in the U.S., although my primary work has been on ethnic relations in the Armenian-Turkish-Azerbaijani set of relationships. Currently, the relationships are hotly simmering after a very unsettled 44-day war at the end of 2020: Azerbaijan backed by Turkey invaded Armenian-held lands and Armenia lost badly. The situation is complicated, but there is no dispute that an immense power imbalance exists between Armenia and Turkish-backed Azerbaijan. The resulting political turmoil in Armenia is leading to an election at the end of June. Armenians are scared, sad, and angry.

Turkey, the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, has not disavowed the Empire’s genocidal policy against the Armenian people. The history of Russian protection of Armenia persists, but

Page 65

strings are attached and it is somewhat unreliable. Armenians must adjust to living with the fear of the worst threat, though perhaps not the most likely.

I see these people’s challenge as getting their feet on the ground to evaluate the threats and respond productively to the situation. Those with psychological knowledge, insight, and the ability to use a variety of methods could help with the emotional dysregulation to think and talk through what’s projection and what’s real in a jungle of factual manipulation in politics, the media, and social media.

Page 66