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Kerry Supporters Dealing With Stress, Depression
AP ^ | 11/6

Posted on 11/05/2004 11:04:00 PM PST by ambrose

Kerry Supporters Dealing With Stress, Depression

Psychologists Reporting Patients Distressed About Election

POSTED: 8:06 am EST November 5, 2004 UPDATED: 8:11 am EST November 5, 2004

NEW YORK -- It's a long way from the Manhattan office of psychoanalyst Sherman Pheiffer to the Cambridge, Mass., practice of psychologist Jaine Darwin. But both are in blue states that voted heavily for John Kerry, and on the day he conceded, they heard plenty of distress about the election.

"My patients were incredulous, depressed, angry, very frightened," Pheiffer said. "Everyone talked about feeling frightened (about) the future of this country."

Darwin heard the same kinds of reactions. At the end of the campaign, Massachusetts Democrats "kind of let themselves hope Kerry would pull it out," she said, so patients felt "the roller coaster had crashed. I think we all had a little post-Red Sox magical thinking."

And among Kerry campaign volunteers, of course, the loss was still stinging the day after the concession.

"If I happened to be on a tranquilizer or Prozac, I would have to triple my dose," joked Sam Feldman, a 75-year-old retired businessman who lives on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts but who volunteered for Kerry in Florida.

Elizabeth Marshall, a volunteer at the Centre County Democrats headquarters in Pennsylvania, said people there showed "bereavement, almost. People feel that something they had, which was hope for imminent change, has been taken from them."

The good news, mental health experts say, is that most Kerry supporters will get over their disappointment on their own. In fact, maybe sooner than they think.

"Right now you've got them at the depths of their despair," said Daniel Gilbert, a Harvard psychologist who has studied voters' emotional reaction to elections. "They're not going to feel worse in a week. They're going to feel better."

In fact, Gilbert said, his work has shown that voters get over their election-day disappointments faster than they predict they will.

"They don't think they'll be over it in a month, but they will be," he said.

Even now, Pheiffer, Darwin and other mental health professionals said they weren't getting any new patients because of the Kerry defeat. And Dr. David Rissmiller, chairman of the psychiatry department at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Osteopathic Medicine, said there's been no election-related jump in calls at two New Jersey crisis centers he's familiar with.

Temporary sadness, anxiety and concern about the future are understandable responses among Kerry supporters, said Dr. Charles Goodstein, a psychiatrist at the New York University Medical Center.

So when is it time to call a mental health professional? "When something goes on longer than you're comfortable with, then talk to somebody," Darwin advised. "You don't have to have major depression to talk to somebody."

Healthy reactions to post-election disappointment include talking about it with others and becoming or remaining politically active, experts said.

"I think it's important to give yourself a little bit of time to grieve," said Mary McClanahan, a psychologist in State College, Pa., who volunteered along with Marshall at the local county Democratic headquarters.

She described herself as "incredibly disappointed" but also galvanized.

Her fellow volunteers felt the same way, she said. And for both civic and psychological reasons, she said, such people should re-invest that energy in politics.

"Whenever we suffer a disappointment, and there's a chance to have a future success experience and we don't take advantage of that, it leaves people with greater regrets in the long run," she said.


TOPICS: Front Page News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: kerrydefeat
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Mongol General: We have won again. That is good! But what is best in life?

Mongol Warrior: The open steppe, fleet horse, falcon on your wrist, wind in your hair!

Mongol General: Wrong! Conan, what is best in life?

Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of the women!


1 posted on 11/05/2004 11:04:01 PM PST by ambrose
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To: ambrose
So when is it time to call a mental health professional?

I suggest diehard liberals go ahead and make the call right now while the lines are short.
2 posted on 11/05/2004 11:07:46 PM PST by WayneM (Remember; "Saturday people first. Sunday people next.")
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To: ambrose
To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of the women!

You moderates drive me nutz. 8>)

/john

3 posted on 11/05/2004 11:08:06 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (D@mit! I'm just a cook. Don't make me come over there and prove it!)
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To: ambrose

4 posted on 11/05/2004 11:09:15 PM PST by Blogger
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To: ambrose

Hmmm, how many of us in the wicked "red" states patronise psychobabblers ?


5 posted on 11/05/2004 11:09:29 PM PST by 1066AD
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To: ambrose
"My patients were incredulous, depressed, angry, very frightened," Pheiffer said.

Recommend a short visit to Oregon for them. I believe they have liberal suicide laws there.

6 posted on 11/05/2004 11:09:55 PM PST by CWOJackson
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To: ambrose

Kerry Supporters Dealing With Stress, Depression

All I can say is get a helmet. You've got four more years of feeling like a loser. I've also heard Paris is wonderful this time of year!


7 posted on 11/05/2004 11:10:01 PM PST by txkev
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To: ambrose

Instead of therapy, may I suggest a Jamestown-type scenario for Kerry supporters?


8 posted on 11/05/2004 11:10:55 PM PST by LdSentinal
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To: ambrose
"If I happened to be on a tranquilizer or Prozac, I would have to triple my dose," joked Sam Feldman, a 75-year-old retired businessman who lives on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts but who volunteered for Kerry in Florida.

This is probably the "--------" who was tearing up our political signs!

9 posted on 11/05/2004 11:11:14 PM PST by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: WayneM
"So when is it time to call a mental health professional? "

The day one registers as a dim.

Nam Vet

10 posted on 11/05/2004 11:11:36 PM PST by Nam Vet (MSM reporters think the MOIST dream they had the night before is a "reliable source".)
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To: WayneM

interesting tag line - had to think for minute


11 posted on 11/05/2004 11:12:23 PM PST by Texas_Jarhead
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To: ambrose

What the hell ever happened to the strong, silent-type?


12 posted on 11/05/2004 11:13:12 PM PST by Darkwolf377
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To: ambrose
Wow... think about it. Think about how good you feel and turn it around. Then... add to that the fact that a lot of New Yorkers are Yankee fans and you have some folks that are really in a world of hurt. That's a rough spot.
13 posted on 11/05/2004 11:13:36 PM PST by AJS
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To: ambrose
To the Looney Moonbats...




14 posted on 11/05/2004 11:13:43 PM PST by Dallas59 ("A weak peace is worse than war" - Tacitcus)
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To: ambrose
Hmmmmm . . . .

I must be in the wrong profession. Working as a Psychologist treating Liberals for mental ailments sounds like a sweet deal to me. I can't imagine how there could ever be a shortage of patients.

But maybe it's better that I'm not after all. I have the feeling that the treatment I would recommend would get me banned from the profession in a hurry.
15 posted on 11/05/2004 11:15:17 PM PST by StJacques
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To: ambrose

> "They're not going to feel worse in
> a week. They're going to feel better."

The short attention span of the dull-minded liberal is perhaps a self-preservation mechanism.


16 posted on 11/05/2004 11:15:35 PM PST by EaglesUpForever
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To: ambrose

"Hi, my name's Gerald and I'm a Kerry supporter"

"Hi loser!"




Wow, these people are sad sacks. I think I'll buy a couple of those 'Viva La Reagan Revolucion!' t-shirts and start wearing them around town. Should be good for a few chuckles to watch recovering leftists go into catatonic fits and twitch on the sidewalk.


17 posted on 11/05/2004 11:16:34 PM PST by randog (What the....?!)
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To: Blogger

I love that pic Blogger. Wish I could get it as a wall-size poster.


18 posted on 11/05/2004 11:16:56 PM PST by StJacques
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To: randog

Foaming at the mouth...spitting up....


19 posted on 11/05/2004 11:17:31 PM PST by Dallas59 ("A weak peace is worse than war" - Tacitcus)
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To: ambrose

Another reason we are better humans than they are...if Bush had of lost I'll bet 99% of us wouldn't have even considered going to a therapist.


20 posted on 11/05/2004 11:17:49 PM PST by Fledermaus (Kerry is, correction, WAS a Nuanced Nuisance!)
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