Article written by Kelly Sadler of the The Washington Times
OPINION:
White liberals are more prone to mental health disorders than individuals who identify as conservative or moderates, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
Sixty-two percent of Whites who classify themselves as “very liberal” or “liberal” have been told by a doctor they have a mental health condition, as compared to 26% of conservatives and 20% of moderates, the study found.
Young White people who identified as “very liberal” were almost one and a half times more likely to report mental health problems than those who considered themselves “liberal.”
Although the Pew Study was published last year, Zach Goldberg, a doctoral candidate, consolidated the data on Twitter, which sparked a column by news magazine Evie trying to dissect why this actually is.
Mr. Goldberg speculated the disparity may be because White liberals were more likely to seek mental health evaluations than other ideologies. This could be a simple, and true, answer.
Yet, there’s a lot of drawbacks to believing in liberalism.
The entire ideology “forces its followers to wallow in feelings of helplessness and victimhood,” Evie noted, as opposed to “building resiliency against hardship,” which helps combat depression.
Evie was also quick to point out liberals may also be more susceptible to “White guilt and savior narratives,” which brings them down, especially given last summer’s continued Black Lives Matter riots.
Misinformation may also be fueling their decline in mental health. Americans who identify as liberal or very liberal believe 1,000 or more unarmed Black men were murdered by police in 2019, according to a survey produced by Skeptic.com. In reality, only 12 were. Yet, this perception reinforces their belief in their “White privilege,” and continued self-loathing.
Other polls show liberals have bought into the mainstream media’s panic porn surrounding COVID-19 more than other ideologies, also causing them more stress and fear.
The vast majority of Democrats overestimate the probability of being hospitalized and dying from COVID-19, compared to other ideologies, a Gallup survey found. There’s only a 1 to 5% chance of somebody with COVID-19 having to be hospitalized, yet 41% of Democrats’ believe there’s a greater than 50% chance. Only 10% of Democrat respondents in the survey knew the correct answer.
With all of this misinformation, it’s not surprising why Democrats are afraid to take off their masks even after they’ve been vaccinated or are outdoors, and why liberal governors have been reluctant to reopen their states.
It could also be another factor contributing to their mental decline.
