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Therapist Writes In Washington Post That Trump News Cycle Is Ruining Her Clients’ Lives
Daily Caller ^ | 1/5/18 | Joe Simonson

Posted on 01/05/2018 7:18:12 PM PST by markomalley

One Washington, D.C.-based therapist’s clients have 99 problems, and they all seem to be about President Donald Trump.

Elisabeth Joy LaMotte, a psychotherapist and founder of the DC Counseling and Psychotherapy Center, writes in The Washington Post that a number of her patients have been complaining that the media’s fixation on Trump is taking a toll on their personal lives.

One couple that she works with (who she names Sally and Steve) have been seeing LaMotte to “strengthen their communication and feel more connected.” It seemed like they were making real progress.  That is, until Trump won.  She quotes Steve:

Sally and I value that our political views are compatible. We have always enjoyed discussing current events, and our careers relate to politics, as you know. I initially took comfort in the fact that we went through the shock of Trump’s victory together, but something has changed. Sally is constantly reading news updates on her phone and watching CNN, even in the middle of the night. It’s gone too far. It’s no longer something that connects us; it’s now a wedge between us.

Sally and Steve aren’t alone, apparently.  LaMotte writes that this “dynamic” is one she’s seen “with other couples and individual therapy clients” she works with.

So, what’s fueling these issues? “Stress is, in my experience, increase — the stress associated with news consumption,” according to LaMotte.

“A surprising number of couples in therapy are fighting with each other about their respective modes of news consumption. These couples report less sleep, a growing sense of disconnection and less sex. And this includes couples where both members share the same political views,” she writes.

Her findings are backed by recent studies that show “increased levels of consumption of news” can compromise “emotional well-being over time.”

One of LaMotte’s clients complains that her boyfriend is “sick of me screaming at the television. I’ve started watching Fox to branch out of the so called bubble, and it’s all lies, I can’t stand it!”

Improved “sleep hygiene,” LaMotte writes, can help alleviate the stress associated with the constant onslaught of news updates. By 10 p.m., she prescribes, all screens should be off. After all, “losing the screens an hour or two before bed is conducive to better sleep and more sex.”

Of course, if you need to see a shrink because of a couple of Trump tweets, maybe you have more serious issues.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: boogedyboogedy; psychology; snowflakes
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To: Billthedrill

Rather... The government can’t be God. These silly illiberal “liberals” have made it their God, opening themselves up to deeming it Satan when an opposition party wins. They need to calm down and give the real God His place in their lives.


61 posted on 01/05/2018 9:06:36 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Tryin' hard to win the No-Bull Prize.)
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To: markomalley
Forgive this slight diversion from DT but I can't stand it when cell phone-using strangers ignore basic civility around strangers with their yapping on the device. Or young women totally glued to their 6 inch screens tap, tap, tapping away. It's a sickening, coarsening sight (equivalent to seeing public bench sleeping).

I'd hate it even more if a relative or wife marginalized my presence by fixating on the phone during private moments.
62 posted on 01/05/2018 9:07:12 PM PST by EliRoom8
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To: EliRoom8

Maybe if you didn’t try to be world police it would bug you less.


63 posted on 01/05/2018 9:09:11 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Tryin' hard to win the No-Bull Prize.)
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To: markomalley

They’ve all been so conditioned and brainwashed by the media that they can’t see and will never see the forest for all the trees. Poor dumb barstewards..


64 posted on 01/05/2018 9:13:57 PM PST by SteveinSATX (Anti-liberalism 24/7)
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To: bravo whiskey

“increased levels of consumption of news” can compromise “emotional well-being over time.”


65 posted on 01/05/2018 9:17:07 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (Headline: Muslims Fear Backlash from Tomorrow's Terror Attack - Mark Steyn)
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To: Col Frank Slade; markomalley
😂😂😂😂😂
66 posted on 01/05/2018 9:18:31 PM PST by 4Liberty (illegal immigration is a "process" crime too....)
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To: Sooth2222



Our side needs to do a study on per-capita mental-health professionals in each county, and then compare those county numbers to voting results in each county.

My theory is that the higher-per-cap counties are strongly correlated to democrat-voting counties.

If this theory proves to be true, then we will have new evidence that liberalism is a mental disorder.




67 posted on 01/05/2018 9:30:47 PM PST by Vision Thing (You see the depths of our hearts, and You love us the same...)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

But, Red — no one is trying to police behavior. It’s simply an observation about the coarsening of society. The article details how the husband complains to a therapist that his wife is fixated on the cell phone, not their relationship, and ruining the marriage. Imo it’s simply reflective of a decline in popular culture.


68 posted on 01/05/2018 9:41:08 PM PST by EliRoom8
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To: markomalley

Urban RATs. (city people)

What a bunch of mentally deficient, co-dependent, ignorant, morally bankrupt psychopaths. They all have to have a shrink.

What will they do when the power goes off, and the food stores go empty?


69 posted on 01/05/2018 9:56:45 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate: Republicans Freed the Slaves Month)
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To: markomalley
Sally is constantly reading news updates on her phone and watching CNN, even in the middle of the night.

You see this on Twitter a lot.

Those caught in the Trump News Cycle believe that ANY MOMENT something will happen to instantaneously cause President Trump to be frog-marched to impeachment and prison.

We had a similar mindset back during the impeachment wars, but we were more realistic about the timetables.

These Democrat loons are fact & reality-challenged.

70 posted on 01/05/2018 10:40:49 PM PST by kiryandil (Never pick a fight with an angry beehive)
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To: ransomnote

It’s more like there’s a Trump tower in the mind of each of these crazy libs.


71 posted on 01/05/2018 11:18:38 PM PST by Catmom (We're all gonna get the punishment only some of us deserve.)
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To: markomalley

Two words: grow up.

Thank you, have a nice day..


72 posted on 01/05/2018 11:27:34 PM PST by Trillian
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To: Hammerhead

“I came to the conclusion that most therapists are nut jobs and are naturally drawn to the profession.”

Most enter the profession trying to figure out their own issues and instead, project them onto their clients.


73 posted on 01/06/2018 12:22:08 AM PST by tired&retired (Blessings)
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To: EliRoom8

Except... You are.


74 posted on 01/06/2018 1:31:33 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Tryin' hard to win the No-Bull Prize.)
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To: markomalley

Just more proof about so many being emotionally crippled social misfits....snowflakes.


75 posted on 01/06/2018 4:34:01 AM PST by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone? I think Trump may give it back...)
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To: markomalley
Chronic Trump Derangement Snowflake Syndrome!

This is Fake News from a Compost Special Snowflake.....Now for some real news for these Special Snowflakes.

A special good night to Special SnowFlakes across America/the world. Sleep well! President Trump will be there, watching over you for the next 7+ years each miserable night in your miserable life!

Liberal Snowflakes main medical needs since Trump became president!


76 posted on 01/06/2018 5:45:44 AM PST by Grampa Dave (America had regime change 20 Jan 2017! ISIS collapsed! Are Iran/Our media, the DNC/FBI/DOJ/CIA next?)
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To: Grampa Dave

Even though most “therapists” need therapy, there aren’t enough in the world to help WDC LIB lunatics become even close to normal. Oh well...


77 posted on 01/06/2018 7:26:15 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: markomalley

The perpetual outrage of many, left or right, is a sign of adrenaline addiction. You’re addicted to the “high” and “rush” of moral outrage, energized by it even as it stresses you.

That social media in general with the constant pings and posts and notices taps into dopamine centers is a related issue. “I’m busy, I’m in demand, I feel engaged and important!” Video games constantly change and reward to engage the same circuits.


78 posted on 01/06/2018 10:33:37 AM PST by tbw2
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To: markomalley

So, change the freakin’ channel!


79 posted on 01/06/2018 11:55:59 AM PST by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: markomalley

80 posted on 01/06/2018 11:59:40 AM PST by dfwgator
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