|
 While some patients are unhappy with the idea of a Hillary Clinton
presidency, most are worried about Donald Trump, a blunt-spoken,
insult-spewing New York businessman who has never held public
office, according to interviews with seven therapists across six
states and the District of Columbia.
The therapists said their patients have complained of difficulty
sleeping, irritability and heart palpitations. They said they were
advising clients to limit exposure to the news and take up breathing
exercises and yoga to calm down.
"I’ve never seen this level of stress and anxiety over an impending
election in my 26 years (of practicing)," said Nancy Molitor, a
clinical psychologist from just outside Chicago.
Molitor said she had two elderly patients who were worried that
their grandchildren would inherit an America in turmoil. Another, a
World War Two veteran, sees similarities between Trump and the
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, Molitor added.
Clinton has accused Trump of racism and sexism, and her campaign
frequently calls him "unhinged" and unfit for the presidency, saying
he has a volatile temperament that could endanger U.S. national
security. Trump, in turn, has said Clinton is a corrupt life-long
politician who should be jailed for her use of a private email
server without official approval while she was secretary of state.
Philip Muskin, professor of psychology at Columbia University
Medical Center, said the anxiety among his patients reminded him of
the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 al Qaeda attacks, and the
crashing to Earth of America's first space station, Skylab, in 1979,
which had people around the world worried they could be hit by
falling space debris.
"Things where, for everybody, the sense of control is gone," Muskin
said.
Adding to the anxiety is the fact that the two candidates in the
Nov. 8 election are the most unpopular in modern U.S. history. Some
57.5 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of Trump, and
nearly 54 percent have an unfavorable view of Clinton, according to
Reuters/Ipsos polling.
There is no data available to quantify the election-related anxiety,
but the therapists' anecdotes give some insight into the state of
the national psyche.
Elaine Ducharme, a clinical psychologist from Glastonbury,
Connecticut, said the election was also on the minds of all of her
patients. "I can't think of a person I've talked to (who) does not
feel anxious about this," she said.
[to top of second column] |
Therapists, themselves, aren't immune to these anxieties.
"I can't say to my patients, 'Oh my God, it's making me a wreck,'
but I can sit and empathize," Ducharme said. (http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/USA-ELECTION/010020L91F6/index.html)
TURN OFF, TUNE OUT
Lynn Bufka, executive director for practice research and policy at
the American Psychological Association, said one patient was
concerned that much of the criticism of Clinton was just because she
was a woman, and this had affected how the patient viewed herself.
"What does this mean for her as a woman? Have things really changed
that much for her in terms of what she can do?" Bufka recalled the
patient wondering.
Trump has said Clinton, who would be America's first female
president, lacks a "presidential look" and has called other female
critics "fat," "pig," or "bimbo."
Bufka said Latino and Muslim patients are also anxious about Trump's
proposals to build a wall along the Mexican border and to
temporarily suspend immigration by Muslims.
Her advice: "Turn off the news feed. Stop reading everything if it
just gets you more stressed."
(Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Ross Colvin)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
