Report: Woke Beliefs Linked To Anxiety And Depression

A new study by mental health experts in Finland reveals the positive correlation between one’s engagement with progressive ideology and anxiety and depression.

Zero Hedge reported that the study indicated the higher an “individual’s commitment to social justice beliefs, including ‘intersectionality,’ ‘antiracism,’ and ‘wokeness,'” the higher the likelihood that person will experience “a life full of anxiety and depression.”

The report, titled “Construction and Validation of a Scale for Assessing Critical Social Justice Attitudes,” was published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology.

The report warned against the trend of allowing progressive ideology to become a kind of religion. Labeling the trend “Woke mind virus,” researchers warned that the illness is spreading quickly and could become a global mental health crisis.

MSN reported that the phrase “Woke mind virus” has been used by Elon Musk and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the last two years. They have associated the term with anti-free speech and anti-merit-based initiatives. The Finnish study extrapolates on this to include all tenants of work ideology.

The study’s author, Oskari Lahtinen, is a senior researcher at the INVEST Research Flagship Centre at the University of Turku. In an interview with PsyPost, Lahtinen said: “I had been paying attention to a development in American universities, where a new discourse on social justice became prevalent in the 2010s.”

The senior researcher found that when asking a simple true or false question such as, “If white people have on average a higher income than black people, it is because of racism,” those answering “yes” had a significantly higher correlation with anxiety and depression than those who answered “no.”

Lahtinen added that woke ideology originated in America and is now negatively impacting many nations. He said, “While critical social justice (or intersectional or ‘woke’) discourse draws mainly from dynamics within American society, it has now surfaced in other Western countries as well.”

World Opinion highlighted how wokeism was evident in the recent resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay. Amid multiple plagiarism charges, questionable administrative decisions, and reported antisemitic views, Gay resigned and claimed “racial animus” as she did.

Many came to Gay’s defense, including Ibram X Kendri, who said, “Racist mobs won’t stop until they topple all Black people from positions of power.”

Researchers coordinating the Finnish study first surveyed 851 adults — most of whom were students and faculty from the University of Turku, then expanded the research to more than 5000 participants with the support of Finland’s notable newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat.

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