Practical Tips for Alleviating the Distress of Depression or Anxiety Resulting from the U.S. Genocide in Palestine

Since October of 2023, we have been witnessing a live-streamed genocide. To get a front-row seat, all we have to do is turn on our cell phones. A few touches of the screen brings up unspeakable atrocities. Or, if you prefer, you can watch videos of happy children or images of young men and women in their graduation gowns – before they were shot in the head or chest, buried under rubble, or burnt alive.

Back in the fall of 2023, many of us thought that this would not be allowed to continue. Surely, we thought, condemnation by human rights organizations, the United Nations General Assembly, the International Court of Justice, somebody (anybody) in a position of authority would make it stop. We just needed to march in the streets and educate our own political leaders – and surely, we thought, they would stop sending arms and funding such atrocities.

But, of course, none of that happened, and we now see that the whole system – the rules of war, human rights, international laws – was just a sham, a charade. Indeed, one can only conclude that there never really was anything that we could call “Civilization.” How is what we are witnessing any different from Rome’s siege of Carthage? (OK, maybe that bit about civilization is overstating it, but if you’re for genocide, you belong on the ash heap of history, know what we mean?)

The basic human emotions are anger, sadness, guilt/shame, fear, and joy. It is natural for us to feel a number of these emotions in light of the genocide. We feel angry about those that perpetrate the genocide and those who fund it with our tax dollars. We feel sadness about the lives that are cut short and the suffering of the tortured, the starved, the maimed, and the dispossessed. We feel guilty and ashamed that we have failed to bring the genocide to an end. We are fearful that if this is what they do to the people of Falasteen, then what will they do to other indigenous peoples, or anybody else that they deem to be subhuman? We are fearful about the consequences of pointing out that the emperor has no clothes (and why his hands are so bloody).

Of course, our bodies and hearts and minds are reacting. And of course, as a result, our relationships are affected.

As Dr. Asfia Qaadir, Psychiatrist, notes,

We are sick from genocide, and that makes sense.

Sick from Genocide SYMPTOMS include but are not LIMITED TO:

+ Issues with Memory
+ Difficulty to learning new things
+ Fight or flight
+ Constant state of panic
+ Nightmares
+ Insomnia
+ Triggering of past traumas
+Exacerbated Immune conditions
+ Weakened Immune Symptoms
+ Migraines
+ Panic Attacks
+ Survivor’s Guilt
+Apathy
+ Anxiety
+ Anger

In general, depressive symptoms may include:

+ Little interest or pleasure in doing things that you normally find enjoyable.
+ Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless.
+ Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much.
+ Feeling tired or having little energy.
+ Poor appetite or overeating.
+ Feeling bad about yourself, or that you are a failure or have let yourself or others down.
+ Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading or watching TV or videos.
+ Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed; or the opposite – being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual.
+ Thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of hurting yourself in some way.

If you experience more than half of these symptoms more than half of the days in any two-week period, you are probably having difficulty enjoying life and functioning at your optimal potential.  If so, it might be helpful to consider implementing changes in your activities of daily life to enhance your well-being and maximize your contribution to popular struggles for peace, justice, human liberation, and environmental protection. Below are some practical tips for changes in lifestyle activities, and ways of thinking about current affairs, human, and ecological challenges:

Physical activity: Consider initiating or increasing your daily physical exercise regimen. Most people can benefit from 30-45 minutes daily, including both cardio and weight-bearing: Walking, swimming, Tai Qi, yoga, hiking, and gym workouts are just a few examples. Do whatever works for you – and remember that throughout our lifespans most of us have to make adjustments as we age.

Fun: Play. Engage in something enjoyable every day, ideally something that brings out your inner child – or increase the time you spend playing daily.  Try something that you have never done but thought might be fun.  Most of us need to make adjustments as we age. From NPR, “Stressed out? Watch videos of cute animals.” I (Seiji) used to watch funny cat videos furtively. But now I watch funny cat videos guilt-free.

Spend time with people who support you: When we are feeling down, it is easy to isolate. Don’t hesitate to initiate and sustain time with people who share your world view and values and with whom you can talk or share activities.

Relax: A world in which technological developments and geopolitical realignments and ecological devastation move at ever faster paces is a stressful world – on top of the fundamental existential anxieties of just being human. Most major religions have daily rituals to help followers cope with the stresses of life – prayer, meditation, worship, etc. Those who are not religious can benefit from developing daily relaxation routines. For everyone, physical activity can help with relaxation, as can deep breathing exercises, immersion in nature, engaging in hobbies, creating art and music, etc.

Set simple goals: Don’t expect too much too soon. Avoid unnecessary “shoulds,” i.e. don’t place upon yourself the burden of making too many changes all at once. Add one lifestyle change at a time, start with a minimum investment of time and energy, then build from there. For one, it’s OK to give yourself a break from doomscrolling through images of genocide. We all know what’s going on. It’s more important to plan how you’re going to mobilize.

Symptoms of anxiety may include:

+ Feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge.
+ Not being able to stop or control worrying.
+ Worrying too much about different things.
+ Trouble relaxing.
+ Being so restless that it’s hard to sit still.
+ Becoming easily annoyed or irritable.
+ Feeling afraid as if something awful (more awful than current realities like genocide and gender, race, and class oppression, and ecocide) might happen to you personally.

As with the depressive symptoms, if you have been experiencing more than half of these symptoms of anxiety for more than half the days over any two-week period, you are probably feeling excessively uncomfortable and may not be functioning at your full potential. The following are some lifestyle adjustments that might help to enhance your endurance and resilience in the face of the very real stressors facing us:

Daily practice of stretching and relaxation to reduce muscle tension: Yoga, Tai Qi, Pilates are great examples, but you can begin with whatever has worked for you in the past or whatever you have learned previously, including pre- and post- workout and athletic stretching routines.

Consciously controlling the way we breathe: Human beings have developed and practiced a myriad of sophisticated breathing practices throughout history, and today there are several free apps available to guide you through relaxation breathing regimens. Start with 5 minutes per day, and build from there.

Increasing stress hardiness in general: healthy diet; reduction and elimination of harmful substances such as alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and sugar; healthy sleep hygiene, including regular waking and bed times; healthy work/life balance.

We must manage those thoughts that contribute to a high-stress lifestyle. We must avoid common cognitive distortions such as the following:

+ All-or-nothing thinking
+ Self-critical “shoulds” and “musts”
+ Mental filtering – focusing only on the negative
+ Overgeneralization – e.g. dystopia is inevitable
+ Magnifying the negative or minimizing the positive
+ Fortune-telling
+ Comparing your performance with that of others
+ Catastrophizing

We must also avoid emotional reasoning, that is, allowing temporary feelings to define our thoughts

+ We must cultivate courage by countering disempowering capitalist-imperialist ruling class narratives with rational, empowering awareness.
+ Remember that genocide is neither normal nor inevitable nor tolerable
+ Daily slaughters, massacres, starvation, expulsion, land theft, humiliation and dehumanization are not normal
+ Government and corporate media deception is not acceptable
+ Our outrage is normal and healthy
+ We are not helpless
+ We are neurobiologically wired for connection and empathy and to be in connection with victims of occupation and apartheid and dispossession and genocide
+ Experiencing moral injury in hostile and disinterested spaces and spaces of denial is normal

Create principled spaces – but we are not required to ensure that spaces must “feel” safe for everyone’s feelings all the time. Engaging in the struggle against genocide can itself be healing.

In conclusion, a politics of engagement and a psychology of well-being must go hand-in-hand in order for us to avoid psychic numbing, to cope with the vicarious trauma we experience, to endure with courage, and to lead with confidence. Physical, emotional and cognitive symptoms resulting from the intense moral distress of a genocidal reality – especially one funded with our tax dollars and waged in our names as U.S. citizens – merely indicates that our moral compasses and empathic capacities are healthily intact. A little cognitive-behavioral fact-checking leads us to understand that we feel sick because of the reality that the empire managers impose on us. In fact, it is not we who are sick. It is the genocidal U.S. empire that is sick. We must strive to be well, for many struggles lie ahead.

Richard Rothschiller is an activist psychologist, and Seiji Yamada is a family physician. Both are members of the Hawaii Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines.