SAN ANTONIO – As a clinical psychologist and nationally recognized expert on social anxiety and the media, Mary McNaughton Cassill, Ph.D., said she didn’t watch Tuesday night’s presidential debate debacle.
“I knew that it would raise my blood pressure,” she said.
Instead, McNaughton Cassill found out the debate Wednesday morning.
The UTSA professor of psychology, who also teaches stress management, did what she advises others to do.
“It’s okay to take a break and calm down and step back from the media,” she said.
Managing media exposure can help reduce the stress many people already are feeling over the pandemic, racial injustice, job loss, and other critical issues, McNaughton Cassill said
What occurred on the debate stage between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden added to the social anxiety, she said.
“It seems to have created an overall sense of discouragement or malaise. Sort of, ‘How did we get to this point?’” she said.
As it is, much of society now follows 24-hour news, the internet, social media and other sources of information, McNaughton Cassill said.
She said to help reduce their stress level, news consumers should consider, “What can you do to get enough information to be informed without being swamped?”
Between now and the presidential election, and even afterwards, McNaughton Cassill said, rather than focusing on what they find frustrating, “Get engaged in making a difference.”
“You have to channel those frustrated, sad, depressed feelings into, ‘What can I do to make a difference?’” she said.
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McNaughton Cassill in recent media interviews:
