A Miami Herald column today: …Trump-Induced Anxiety Disorder blues. My Sextysomething blog on Nov. 12, 2016: I Have PTSD: Post Trumpatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
This isn’t fake news. It’s real!
In February the American Psychological Association reported more than half of Americans, 57 %, considered “the current political climate a very or somewhat significant source of stress.” And things were relatively calm back then.
Three months and a blitz of deeply concerning scandals later, WaPo says White House Trump staffers are exhausted and on the edge of collapse. The Wall Street Journal published an editorial noting the “perpetual turbulence” brought on by a president who “who seems to like it this way.”
Trump fuels the fires around him and TV news cable channels score their highest ratings in years. Angst, fear, and anger are in the air. It’s a potential war among families, friends and co-workers who are apt to strike out against the Other on these grounds: 1. Conservative voters who let into the Oval Office an inexperienced and morally challenged celebrity business man who refuses to show mature restraint or his tax returns; and 2. Liberals who voted for a mainstream politico as morally reprehensible and scarred, despite her broad resume and groundbreaking gender.
Being female didn’t matter. “I’m not just voting for a vagina,” a confirmed Hillary-hater told me after the election. There’s nothing wrong with being wealthy, either, she added.
Lots of people agreed, as the election results showed. Now we have to live with the significant impact of Donald Trump on the 24-hour news cycle, on our minds, and in our hearts. Having PTSD (traumatic or Trumpatic) is serious business. We are all affected.
It isn’t fair or accurate to blame tbe media or political parties for this condition. As sextysomethings, we have survived many a controversy in public life. But the man who won the presidency is maddening, and our getting mad, daily, has consequences we all need to acknowledge. I hope as the summer and scandals heat up, we can keep our own mad-ness at a slow simmer and not burn.
How are YOU feeling in the midst of May Madness? Any suggestions for how to weather the political PTSD?
Sextysomething 