By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP

Earlier this month, I was asked by Jenelle Janci, an editor and reporter at LNP in Lancaster, Pa., to comment on mental and emotional health related to the re-opening of the United States as we suffer and navigate the continuing effects of the Coronavirus pandemic. She excerpted some of my thoughts in today's article here, and I’m sharing the full interview below:

How are feelings of anxiety and other mental health issues around reopening different than what people might have experienced at the beginning of the stay-at-home order?

It’s easier to manage a difficult experience when we know there’s an end to the experience. With this pandemic, the stay-at-home order may be modified and eventually lifted, but the Coronavirus hasn’t gone anywhere. We are still asked to face this highly infectious virus with lots of uncertainties.
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People’s anxieties may focus on different parts of this collective experience. Some may feel anxious about their health and worry about 

By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
 
There is no doubt that the 2016 election has provoked a great deal of anxiety.  Everywhere. With everyone.
 
My clients tell me that tension has been growing within families and rattled friendships when there is a difference in support with one candidate or the other. Turmoil has been present in the work place, in neighborhoods and within people’s hearts as they worry about the results of Tuesday’s election and what will happen to our country during the next four years.
 
Whether people hide their anxiety under the thick shell of anger – or just admit that they are really, really nervous about the outcome of the election, the anxiety has been brewing for months.  Now, just a day before Election Day, the anxiety is being served up full strength.
 
Which brings us to the question:  What do we do on Election Day?
 
People have been thinking about this already, and they aren’t waiting for Nov. 8 to start.