Don't Stress Over the Current Social Mess

A close friend is in a meltdown. Tension rides my friend’s shoulders like a brace of boulders. She is not alone. I feel the pressure, too.

Photo by murdersick_andre

After days of news coverage,  discussions and debate on the incidents, police officials' shrugging shoulders, politicians promises of investigations, grand juries that withhold indictments, most people have a right to be stressed. My friend's came clear to me through three emails with background on the
case of Sandra Bland who committed suicide in a Texas county jail. She is bothered by the unanswered questions, feelings of helplessness in the face of power, fear of a similar fate, and sympathy for the victims of police.

"Here is even more information that needs to be heard," she wrote in an evaluation of the video of the traffic stop that sparked the incident. "Ms Bland is talking fast and furious because she is now afraid for her life and the cop keeps ramping up the insults, then lies about trying to calm her down, when he just keeps adding insult and injury to this lady without ever answering her question about why she is being treated in this manner... Can't anybody see that he is terrorizing her, deliberately?"

That is why I can imagine, as to me the current social environment leaves her with nothing but  stress headaches and fatigue. I see the same reactions in many people every day.

According to medical experts, at any given time as many as 80 percent of Americans have tension headaches for various reasons. I will elaborate on that in a moment. However, like those tied to the BLACK LIVES MATTER debates their cause are usually tightened muscles in the back of the neck or scalp, especially related to depression, anxiety or mental stress. That is a result of the struggle to maintain hope.

Now, doctors say tension headaches are also caused by lack of  rest, poor posture, anxiety, fatigue, hunger, and overexertion. No doubt! Writing those words made me tired. Throw in everyday activities such as driving, writing and cell phone use, and there is little wonder I and so many other people are stressed.

The pain spurred by faulty posture while driving, computing and using cell phones, is as well known the lyrics to an old song, The problem is that many people forget the tune, or like me blank out the message as time wears on. Care2.com hosts an article “Unknowingly Stressing Your Back,” that offers good tips to those who don't know the song, and gives those who forgot the tune a great reminder. That eases some of what ails us.

There is no quick fix for the tensions from caused by mental or emotional stress and depression.There is only hope, which is easier to summon if you have faith. Many studies show that faith helps.

Three years ago, the American Journal of Psychiatry reported that subjects tied to Catholic and mainline Protestants who told researchers that religion is very important had a 76 percent less chance of experiencing major depression. Those ideas need more in-depth study, but in many researchers find that belief is a key factor in mental health. If you want to know more, check out, this article on faith and stress. Those who want to work out issues and feelings about the American social environment without religion might want to take a page from Stress Management experts on how to adapt to stressors, the frequent causes of emotional or mental stress and depression.

They suggest we reframe the problem, look at the big picture, adjust our standards and focus on the positive. Those are good ideas, but might not offer much to people like my friend.  One of the best pieces of advice from those in that field is what I always say, “Don’t try to control the uncontrollable.”

As I often tell people, "You can only do what you can do." Given the nation’s current state, there are likely to be more seemingly senseless black deaths at the hands of police.  I do not make the laws, so my responsibility is to write letters, sign petitions, march in protests, and continue to talk about the feelings and questions spurred by the news. Those actions make me feel less helpless. They might help you, too. In any event those things will stir public debate on the issues and poke those who make or serve the laws to act. Beyond that, a look at the big picture is scary.

Injustice and sense killings are a part of the national heritage that has stalked African Americans for centuries. The only way to find a means to hope when faced with that fact is to embrace a view rooted in the confidence of visionaries such as the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. He said, “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” I believe hold onto that, because the concept is logical, which fights hysteria, which only deepens depression.  If we panic in the present and surrender to the often touted belief that the arc of our future bends toward chaos, we will be lost to a sickness curable only by death.