Woke Madness

Why do more left-wing individuals tend to be more mentally ill?

It has been found—again and again—that individuals on the left show higher rates of mental illness, higher levels of neuroticism, take more psychiatric prescriptions, see therapists and psychiatrists more often, and so on and so forth. The question of Why? has not been answered. Three main theories stand out: Effect, Composition, and Bias.

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Effect

This theory posits that left-wing political views worsen one’s mental health. Individuals who hold left-wing views or involve themselves in left-wing political activities at a point in time might feel more concerned about the status of others and the world, they might stress about injustices, or for some other reason, their views might dispose them to becoming mentally unwell. Because the relationship between left wing views and mental illness is very broad and affects many measures of mental illness, the prediction here is that being left wing causally causes people to become more neurotic, generally mentally ill, and so on. The reverse of this theory can also be true, in that being mentally ill could cause one to develop left-wing views, and bidirectional relationships are also possible.

To see if this is true, we need longitudinal evidence.

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Composition

This theory can also be called Selection, but it isn’t quite that for reasons I’ll explain. This one posits that left-wing political views are related to poorer mental health because certain groups tend to have worse mental health and also to be more left-wing, but not because left-wing views influence mental health per se. One could easily imagine this explained by differences in the sex composition of political parties if they’re aware that male Republicans and Democrats tend to be less mentally ill than their same-party opposite-sex peers.

To see if this is true, we need to compare demographically similar groups of right- and left-wing individuals, we might also be informed by the same longitudinal evidence that lends itself to the Effect position, and we could throw this out as an explanation if we see the relationship stand up, unattenuated within twin pairs. If the relationship survives sufficient post-stratification, then composition probably fails to explain the relationship.

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Bias

This theory holds that individuals who are left-wing respond differently to questions about mental health. Being left-wing might lend itself to greater confidence and openness about mental health, a higher likelihood of seeking professional or community help with mental health, and so on. If, for some reason, being left-wing promotes mental health awareness and behaviors to handle it, then measures of mental health would showcase measurement non-invariance when they’re stratified by political orientation.

To see if this is true, we need to test whether measures of mental health show evidence of differential item functioning. This theory could also be tested by comparing real indicators of mental health, like suicide, but that might be an exercise limited by power.

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Empirical Tests

So, what does the evidence show? Why do more left-wing individuals report being more mentally ill?