Kerry supporters seek therapy in South Florida

More than a dozen traumatized John Kerry supporters have sought and received therapy from a licensed Florida psychologist since their candidate lost to President Bush, the Boca Raton News learned Monday.

Boca Raton trauma specialist Douglas Schooler said he has treated 15 clients and friends with “intense hypnotherapy” since the Democratic nominee conceded last Wednesday.

“I had one friend tell me he’s never been so depressed and angry in his life,” Schooler said. “I observed patients threatening to leave the country or staring listlessly into space. They were emotionally paralyzed, shocked and devastated.”

Schooler’s disclosure comes after the weekend discovery of a Kerry volunteer’s corpse at Ground Zero in New York City. Georgia resident Andrew Veal, 25, reportedly killed himself with a shotgun blast to the head due to Kerry’s loss and a girlfriend problem.

Some mental health professionals in South Florida said Monday they have already developed a new category for the Kerry-related stress reactions. Because Palm Beach County voted heavily for Kerry, the therapists said, many residents hurt themselves by so anxiously expecting the Massachusetts senator to win – especially those who maintained unrealistic recount hopes after their candidate’s concession.

“We’re calling it ‘post-election selection trauma’ and we’re working to develop a counseling program for it,” said Rob Gordon, the Boca-based executive director of the American Health Association. “It’s like post-traumatic stress syndrome, but it’s a short-term shock rather than a childhood trauma.”

Gordon, the first American Red Cross psychotherapist sent to Ground Zero after the 9/11 terror attacks, said therapists’ main concern is to prevent the recurrence of Kerry-related suicides like the one in New York City. “There are definitely people depressed by John Kerry’s loss, and this can easily lead to suicides like the one we saw up in New York this weekend,” Gordon said. “Luckily, it can be treated if people seek help. We’re urging people to call us immediately if they feel depressed or know anyone who is seriously stressed out.”

Also in Boca, at least one counseling center and an emotional support group were preparing for an influx of Kerry supporters at their first post-election meetings today.

“We’ll let the Kerry voters talk about it and let off some steam, and by listening to other people’s stories, we’ll help them refocus and surrender to the things in their life which they can’t possibly change,” said a spokeswoman for Emotions Anonymous, a recovery group meeting tonight at Glades Presbyterian Church.

“We’re referring people with election-related stress to the Democratic National Committee,” said Karen Jacobs of the Center for Group Counseling. “We’ll do what we can for anyone who shows up for our support group programs this week, but we haven’t implemented a specific program for Kerry-related trauma.”

Schooler, practicing in Boca since 1984, said he treated his 15 patients last week with hypnosis-based rapid response trauma therapy. This week, he is charging a sliding fee to non-clients who feel they need the one-time “election therapy” session. South Floridians can contact him at 561-395-3033.

“A lot of Kerry voters don’t know what to do with their anger, because there was no recount, so they’ve kept it bottled up,” said Schooler, who also is a certified sex therapist. “I help them transform the anger into more positive emotions.”

Asked to describe symptoms of the post-election trauma, Schooler said, “They include feelings of extreme anger, despair, hopelessness, powerlessness, a failure to function behaviorally, a sense of disillusionment, of not wanting to vote anymore – that sort of thing. We’re talking about a deep, unhealthy personal suffering that can best be remedied by intensive short-term therapy.”

That's what happens when your entire life is wrapped up in a lie.

And, FREEPERs, please indulge me while I repost my original commentary on this issue: Despair. It is the bottom. What will you do now?.

Call me a sadist, but there is something that I really enjoy about looking at the picture below. Look at it for a second and take it in.

I know how this is. Why? Because...

This is the way I have felt EVERYTIME I hear John Kerry lie to the country
This is the way I feel everytime I hear George Soros, Michael Moore and all the lefty kooks assault not just the President, but the office of the President
This is the way I feel evertime I have to hear about the MSM refusing to ask even the most simple questions (like, "Senator Kerry, can you confirm with certainty that you have signed form 180?)
This is the way I have felt when I hear democrats using our troops --their casualties, specifically-- for political gain
This is the way I have felt when I hear that good people like Miguel Estrada has been played the fool because of, literally and figuratively, a small man's obsession with maintaining political power.
This is the way I feel when I see that over-paid, marginal-talent actors tell me how my America should be and how my opinion is less valuable then theirs
This is the way I feel when I hear that there is a group of individuals that wants to ban my child's right to pledge allegiance to this great country

So, while I would like to extend the hand of bipartisanship, I can't.

Mr./Mrs. Liberal demonRAT, you have brought this on yourself. You deserve to feel this bad or worse.

I really hope that this will wake you up.

Let these thoughts burn in and burn in real good...

You are an American, but You are not America.
You are an American, but You are the ones that are out of touch with reality.
You are an American, but You have followed the rhetoric to its logical end, which is hollow, as rhetoric is just rhetoric.
You are an American, but you have forsaken our mighty military's ability to conquer any foe; and, worst of all,
You are an American, but you have "checked out" of the American experiment just because you don't like what you have heard
But, this is America. And you are an American.

This is the greatest country in the world. And, you are allowed to be stupid. And, you are also allowed to change your life for the better too.

So, I hope the despair sinks in deep enough to shake your "core", because your core is what got you where you are.

This time, when you pick yourself up off the ground, don't engage in the hatred which brought you here. Don't live in denial of reality.
Try a some simple steps to pick yourself up off the ground...

Accept reality and understand that you have meet it for the first time
Accept that George Bush isn't an evil person
Accept that Dick Cheney isn't pulling strings at Halliburton and the Pentagon
Accept that Saddam is, simply, not a good guy
Accept that Iraq is actually a strategic center in combatting islamic nutbags
Accept Islamic extremism for what it is: a blood-thirsty notion that wants to see your throat slit
Accept things as they are
Accept that what you believe is grossly out-of-whack with the real world

All you Kerry supporters/Bush haters, should think about that.

I still feel this way. And, I'm giving this advice, free of charge to any Kerry supporter who is willing to read it and know that this is true.

And, one last bit of advice: try getting a sense of humor. And, get a sense of humor that isn't entirely wrapped up in trying to make fun of the President, Republicans, or people that you don't agree with. In the process of tearing others down, you are just bringing yourself lower and lower.

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