Therapists Report Rise in "Trump Anxiety Disorder"

Would these therapists have clients clustered in the DC, LA, and NY media markets, perchance?

"Is he gonna blow us all up?"

So inquired one of Elisabeth LaMotte's patients recently, fretting out loud about the volatility of U.S. President Donald Trump's actions during a therapy session at her Washington practice.

It was a rhetorical question -- one that predated Trump's threats of a showdown with Iran this week. But if the question wasn't meant in earnest, the politically induced anxiety LaMotte is hearing about from her clients certainly is, says the founder of the D.C. Counselling and Psychotherapy Center.

She refers to it as a "collective anxiety" among patients who feel on edge about how potentially dire the president's decisions could be.

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What's been called "Trump Anxiety Disorder" has been on the rise in the months following the election, according to mental-health professionals from across the country who report unusually high levels of politics-related stress in their practices.

And it's maybe not surprising given the relentlessly negative headlines and politically divisive climate.

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"Trump Anxiety Disorder" also affects Trump supporters, LaMotte says:

From Trump supporters, LaMotte hears about the pain of "feeling socially or familially isolated" for supporting the president's agenda, "even if they don't support his tactics."

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Washington therapist Steve Stosny recounted how an official with the Trump administration came to see him not long ago. At work, the official explained, he felt anxious about his high-pressure job in a highly scrutinized White House. At home, he faced a more personal turmoil: his liberal-leaning family grew to resent him for working for Trump.

But that's not Trump causing that, of course. It's Trump-deranged progressives making life hell for Trump supporters.

I feel a fair amount of that. I'm sure many of you do, too.

Living in proximity to utter lunatics is pretty stressful.

posted by Ace of Spades at 02:29 PM

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