Okay, I might be using the word "psychosis" a little loosely considering people who are truly psychotic really do need honest psychiatric care, but jeez. The special snowflake class of the American population is giving them a run for their money.
See, ever since The Donald was elected president, and their world view of safety and security from all things traditional and proven was shattered, the little darlings have been hanging out on their therapists' couches kvetching about the current administration. According to the Los Angeles Times, this is putting a strain on the people doing the listening since they are supposed to remain neutral by oath.
“This is so monumental because we are not in normal anymore,” said Randi Gottlieb, a therapist who heads the L.A. chapter of the California Assn. of Marriage and Family Therapists. “It’s putting into flux and questioning how do we practice, what is the best way to support the people we care for. We’re beginning those conversations — we don’t really have good answers.”
Therapists say the last time so many people came to therapy wanting to talk about the same thing was after the Sept. 11 attacks. Trump has been a topic of discussion for months, even for people who see therapists for issues as seemingly unrelated as relationship troubles or eating disorders.
“I had a 10-year-old in my office who was talking about it,” said Paul Puri, a psychiatrist in Brentwood....Wagner has encouraged others to turn their anger or frustration into action by attending rallies or contacting their congressional representatives. One of his clients wrote thank-you letters to President Obama with her children.
“It makes them feel like it’s not something they’re watching, like a train wreck, and that there’s some level of control,” he said. “Maybe it doesn’t change the larger narrative, but it makes them feel as though they’re being authentic with themselves.”
In many ways, the election has been more challenging for his conservative clients, who feel as though they can’t tell their spouses, family members or friends that they voted for Trump, Wagner said. They fear being automatically labeled bigots or accused of electing a new Hitler, he said. They rely on secret Facebook groups to express their feelings.
“It’s almost become irrational in terms of the anger people feel toward each other and the boxes they put each other in,” he said. “I feel for the people on both sides.”
So, essentially, this puts Trump's election on an emotionally disturbing scale along the lines of the shattering of safety and security to the American psyche that 9-11 did. The article states outright that since people cannot talk about the election in public, they are headed to online forums and the therapist just to have a place to vent.
Oh, my. (No apologies to George Takei.)
Umm.... Maybe this writer has been consuming too many reality shows on the Home and Garden network where women want soaker tubs and pot fillers at the cooktop (would LOVE this, but it's out of reach for now), but it seems like looking out for number one, and considering that nothing is more important than the individual and his or her feelings has stunted a lot of mental growth. There's some sort of emotional block there that does not allow the victim to view world events from anything other than street level. To truly cope with all that happens around us, and the gaslighting from the mainstream media that tells us what we are to think about it, it is necessary to get the emotion out of the equation, and look at it from ten miles high. That simply isn't happening.
This too, for whichever side of the culture wars any one person is on, will pass eventually. Yes, it may be painful getting there, but not everyone always gets what they want. And, no, therapy doesn't change that.
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