ELECTION 2008:

After-the-vote depression: It’s not just for Republicans

Saturday, Nov. 8, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Las Vegas program offering free services for 'Election Depression'

2008 General Election

Are you suffering from feelings of shock and alienation? Or of exhaustion and abandonment?

Not to worry, psychologist Gary Waters says: These are perfectly normal reactions to a presidential election.

Apparently for some, the election was all too much, and not because it went on for two years at a quarter of the cost of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. No, emotionally it was too much. And not the election itself. The end of the election.

Waters, who founded the Center for Health and Learning, a nonprofit mental health clinic, says that in the two days after the election, the clinic had counseled eight people for what he is calling “election depression.” Another three people have appointments.

(Before a recent expansion of services, the clinic specialized in counseling children and teenagers.)

Who are these people? Are they distraught Republicans?

The clinic doesn’t know, Waters said; it doesn’t ask patients’ political affiliation. He estimated about half of them are displeased with the results of the election and are asking themselves whether this is really happening, where they fit in now and whether America is still their country. They feel as if the country profoundly changed overnight with the election of a liberal, black president.

“The country isn’t a Norman Rockwell painting anymore. But we encourage people to try and visualize what it would look like if Norman Rockwell painted it,” Waters said. “We tell them, ‘Your country hasn’t changed because Barack Obama was elected. Barack Obama was elected because the country changed incrementally over the years.’ ”

If only half of the people upset about the election are upset because their side lost, who are the other half? Surely they aren’t Democrats, who after years of defeat and pitiful whining about moving to New Zealand finally won?

Actually, Waters said, many of them are ardent Obama supporters who, after pushing their candidate over the finish line, suffer from feelings Waters compared to postpartum depression.

Exhaustion. Hollowness. Stress from trying to live up to campaign rhetoric.

“One woman said, ‘I’ve been doing this for a year and a half. What do I do now? I feel abandoned.’ ”

Waters has distributed a set of talking points for use in counseling sufferers of election depression. Among them: “Remember time will indeed heal,” “Stay in the Positive Zone,” “Keep an open mind” and “Don’t overreact.”

“We’re encouraging people not to make drastic choices,” Waters said. “Don’t sell your house and move to Canada.”

How widespread is election depression? Could it become an epidemic?

There’s no way to know, Waters said.

“I think a lot of people kind of deal with it on their own.”

Discussion: 5 comments so far…

By starrynite7

11/8/08 at 6:38 p.m.

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In light of Prop8 being passed I feel like the whole world hates gay people. The fights are getting ugly and Mormons are turning into demonic lunatics feeling so self-righteous when they are morally bankrupt in the first place. How do people who are sexually deviant feel that they have a place to judge gay people. They marry young, young girls and believe in outerspace and yet, they are protesting Gay marriage. Boycott Utah and do not support anything Mormon. The battle may have been lost the first time around, but the battles have just begun.
By starrynite7

11/8/08 at 7 p.m.

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Join the protest in Las Vegas http://www.jointheimpact.com/?page_id=2
By jfnance32

11/8/08 at 10:15 p.m.

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Should you not also be mad at Obama who brought out all those blacks who voted for the ban on gay marriage?

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-...

"Smith and other African American voters played a crucial role in the outcome. An exit poll of California voters showed that black voters sided in favor of the measure by margins of more than 2 to 1. Not only was the black vote weighted heavily in favor of Proposition 8, but black turnout -- spurred by Barack Obama's campaign for president -- was unusually large, making up roughly 10% of the voters. The exit poll was conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for a consortium of news organizations."
By BugMeTons

11/9/08 at 1:33 a.m.

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Misinformation!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/7/...
By seajac

11/9/08 at 1:23 p.m.

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jfinance32, blacks didn't put the necessary money up to promote prop.8 or the massive media campaign. No, but alot of mormon and right-wing christian groups did. Along with the fact that 10% of anything is not the majority. So, what's really your point?