Mental Health Professionals’ Views on Political Polarization

• Anna Beck, Political Science, University of Delaware
• Mara Gilkey, International Relations, University of Delaware

• Erin Cassese, Political Science & International Relations, University of Delaware

According to a recent study, 87 percent of therapists report discussing politics during their sessions, and 63 percent have disclosed their own political beliefs to their patients (Solomonov & Barber, 2019; McCarthy et al., 2022). However, political conflict is largely absent from the current curriculum in clinical training programs. There is also little academic research about how political polarization is affecting mental health practitioners. At the same time, researchers working on polarization in the field of political science tend to rely on large-scale surveys and miss out on the in-depth discussions about politics happening in clinical contexts. In this project, we seek to better understand political polarization and its impact on the psychology of American citizens through a series of in-depth interviews with mental health practitioners. We find that political discussions are common in therapeutic settings—patients regularly express distress about politics and seek guidance from mental health practitioners about how to manage it. Our initial analysis is organized around three themes: social media use and distress about politics, interfamily political conflict, and generational differences that come with political distress. Our results point to the need for more constructive dialogue between mental health professionals and academic political psychologists in order to better serve the public as patients and citizens.