Depression, Sadness and the Politics of Mental Health
Clicks: 21
ID: 328693
2026
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This
article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score —
reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
Reader Engagement
Emerging Content
6.0
/100
21 views
20 readers
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
EmergingRanked #25 of 76 articles by views in political science quarterly
Most read
Least read
Bar heights use a square-root scale.
Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet mintedCreate a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.
5
SUSD
one-off · no wallet required
Abstract
Abstract Christopher Ojeda's The Sad Citizen: How Politics Is Depressing and Why It Matters (University of Chicago Press, 2025) applies a stress-appraisal-coping framework to argue that political events perceived as irrevocable losses such as electoral defeats or adverse policy outcomes can produce depression, and that depression in turn fosters political withdrawal. In this review, I discuss the ways in which the book extends political emotions research beyond high-arousal states like anger and anxiety to chronic, low-arousal states that have been somewhat neglected in past studies. I also note that the book moves political emotions research in a positive direction by focusing on the adverse effects of political events on mental health. I applaud the focus on large-scale datasets (BRFSS, NLSY, and LISS) and the use of validated clinical inventories (K6 and CES-D) to better understand the link between political events and mental health. Finally, I situate the book within broader debates on emotion appraisal and regulation in political behavior research, and propose that political surveys more routinely incorporate validated depression batteries to track the psychological toll of political events over time.
| Reference Key |
openalex_W7213469330
Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using
SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
|
|---|---|
| Authors | Leonie Huddy |
| Journal | political science quarterly |
| Year | 2026 |
| DOI |
10.1093/psquar/qqag068
|
| URL | |
| Keywords | Keywords not found |
Citations
No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.