Are Our Shared Anxieties Making Us More Combative in Politics?

Opening my social media feed, I’m often confronted with a jarring contrast: intense, diametrically opposed perspectives from different friends. The comments can be laced with insult, character attack, and invective.

I’m certainly not the only one noticing this kind of vitriolic polarization. Recent polling suggests a majority of Americans believe that the country cannot overcome its current divisions.

As a professor of human development and family studies, I’ve researched and written about traumatic and adverse childhood experiences and existential anxiety for over 20 years. Scrolling through my feed, I was struck by the recognition that both sides had something in common: a profound sense of existential fear.

While political polarization has many potential causes, existential anxiety is one that has received less attention.

What is existential anxiety?

Philosophers have written about the concept of existential anxiety for centuries. My own empirical research is based on the writings of the mid-20th century philosopher Paul Tillich, who outlines three facets of this fundamental human fear:

Fate and death—fears of nonexistence and uncertainty about one’s ultimate destiny

Emptiness and meaninglessness—fears about life’s deeper purpose or ultimate concern

Guilt and condemnation—fears of moral failure or threats to one’s ethical self

Existential anxiety is humanity’s inherent confrontation with mortality, moral responsibility, and search for meaning.

My colleagues and I have found that these fears are very common—between 75% and 86% of participants in our research endorse at least one concern. Higher levels of existential anxiety are associated with indicators of poor mental health, such as symptoms of depression and suicidal ideation. Existential anxiety levels are also elevated among those who have experienced a life-threatening event. For instance, after surviving a natural disaster, up to 94% of research participants reported at least one dimension of thi…