Managing Stress in Turbulent Times, with Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, and Georges C. Benjamin, MD

Why It Matters

Chronic societal stress threatens population health and overwhelms the healthcare workforce, making policy‑driven support and individual resilience strategies critical for economic and social stability.

Key Takeaways

• Societal division drives chronic stress, harming physical and mental health.
• Chronic stress creates allostatic load, raising disease risk like cardiovascular issues.
• Vulnerable groups—parents, farmers, low-income—experience disproportionate stress impacts significantly.
• Practical tools: social support, cognitive reframing, sleep, diet, exercise.
• Supporting caregivers and mental‑health workers requires policy funding and systemic change.

Summary

The episode of Speaking of Psychology tackles the surge of societal stress amid political polarization, economic anxiety, and global conflict, drawing on the APA’s 2025 Stress in America survey that shows 62% of adults cite societal division as a major stressor. Hosts Kim Mills interview APA CEO Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, and APHA CEO Georges C. Benjamin, MD, to explore how this collective tension infiltrates both physical and mental health. Key insights include the physiological cascade of chronic stress—elevated cortisol, inflammation, disrupted sleep, and allostatic load—linking societal strain to higher rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and immune dysfunction. The conversation highlights disproportionate impacts on specific populations such as parents of young children, farmers facing economic pressure, and communities grappling with housing instability, food insecurity, and loneliness. Both leaders cite concrete coping strategies: building social support networks, practicing cognitive reframing to avoid catastrophizing, and maintaining sleep, nutrition, and exercise routines. Benjamin adds community engagement, digital detox, and regular health monitoring, while Evans stresses the importance of intentional pleasure activities and leveraging experience to improve stress resilience. The discussion underscores that the health workforce itself is under unprecedented strain, calling for policy reforms that fund mental‑health services, improve working conditions, and alleviate economic burdens on providers. Addressing these systemic gaps is presented as essential to safeguarding both public health and the caregivers who sustain it.

Original Description

From societal division to economic uncertainty to global conflict, we are living in stressful times. In this special episode of Speaking of Psychology, Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, CEO of the American Psychological Association, and Georges C. Benjamin, MD, CEO of the American Public Health Association, discuss how chronic societal stress can “get under the skin,” harming the mental and physical health of individuals and communities. They also explore the toll on healthcare workers and share research-backed strategies to cope.

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