Election Day itself was certainly a stressful day for campaign staff, poll workers, and political reporters.
But the next day is when things got tough for the therapists, many of whom saw their practices going too fast while actually feeling personally upset by the election result.
“This morning, I was more or less crying while my client was crying,” Danielle, a psychotherapist in New York State (who asked that only her first name be used due to privacy concerns), said Wednesday.
She says she started the day off thinking, “I don’t know how I’m going to do this,” and at one point considered taking Wednesday off. “But then I said, ‘I can’t take a day off,'” she says. “I’m a healer.”
Of course, being a mental health professional is always stressful. This week has brought more power to many practices, especially those with clients who support Kamala Harris.
It’s also bringing in more patients: On Wednesday, mental health bookings went live nationwide Zocdoca virtual platform, jumped 22% between 6 and 8 a.m. alone. Mental health provider Spring health It announced a 24% increase in member account creation from November 4 to November 5 – and more importantly, a significant 240% increase in appointment bookings from November 3 to November 4.
The crisis lines also witnessed a jump: the Trevor Projectfor LGBTQ youth, L said The Washington Post There was a 125% increase in calls, texts and chat messages on Election Day and Wednesday. Crisis text line It has increased in size By one third On election day.
Anecdotally, therapists say luck Many patients called for additional emergency sessions on Wednesday, while others who had finished treatment completely decided to return to treatment.
“The last few days have been stressful.” Matthew usuallyLMSW and executive clinical director at LifeStance, a network of providers, says. “For many left-leaning clients, we are experiencing a sense of heaviness and feelings of being in crisis mode.” I have seen and heard of clients who feel so anxious and distressed that they struggle. There is a widespread sense of information and emotional overload.
“Doctors are just as susceptible to this as the rest of the population,” Sollett adds.
When therapists are as upset as their patients
The therapists they talked to luck He expressed this week that the post-election day felt different than usual because, in most cases, they were dealing with the same grief, fears and disappointment as their clients.
“I was bound by strict boundaries all the time, and it wasn’t just a blank slate, but people didn’t know anything about me,” says Danielle. luck. “And I think during lockdown, it was as if what happens to everyone happens to you too.” Being a blank slate during that time “didn’t seem right,” she says, noting that the experience is helping her get through the week. “I think I’m more humane with people.”
For her own self-care, she underwent therapy and “refused to cook this week,” she says. “But I don’t have anything magical.”
Sandy Silverman, a therapist in New York City who has been practicing for more than 30 years, says this week marks the third time she’s worked through “a really big, common crisis,” she says. “The first was 9/11. The next was Covid. And now there’s this, where (my patients) know I’m struggling, too, with what they’re struggling with… I can’t tell them, but I’ve shared how hard this is. She’s relying on a group of colleagues for support.” Personal.
Sollett says that for him, post-election stress looks very different from the pandemic. “Coronavirus has affected the entire nation and has profoundly affected people of all ages,” he says. “As a virus, Covid has been apolitical, although the response of many people and politicians has certainly been divisive…and this feels different in how polarized the election results were. It’s more divisive. As doctors, we can discuss COVID-19 as a virus and the lifestyle changes that have resulted from it without bias. Greater caution must be taken when discussing electoral pressures in order to provide fair and ethical treatment.
In fact, the biggest challenge Anna MacGregor, a therapist in private practice in Rhode Island, faced Wednesday was keeping her own feelings about the election in check.
“I’ve been working very hard, a lot harder than I normally do, to get rid of my biases,” she says, even though all of her clients are Harris supporters. “I was very shy about providing a safe space for their issues in session, and so what I was stressing about was so overwhelming… I always bring my authentic self to work, but I had to put a lot of myself away.”
Michelle, the Massachusetts-based psychotherapist who asked that her last name not be used due to privacy concerns, said her challenge was not getting lost in despair, especially when a particular client wanted to indulge. “It was hard for me, because I’m trying to overcome my despair, and while I’ve had some people go in and out of it, for this person it was the whole session,” she says.
Some therapists felt better because of the focus on others
Alex Raskovar, a psychotherapist in New York City, spoke of the relief he felt when he was able to focus on other people’s feelings rather than his own.
“As difficult as my emotions are, my support of others actually helps me process my own issues,” Raskovar says. “I don’t mean to say we’re actively doing it, but it seems like the more I can be there for people’s feelings whatever they are, the more I’m in this place where I’m like, ‘I’m doing something right…and doing something feels better than doing nothing.’
“It’s been very difficult to wake up and start working as a therapist with my wife and she’s crying and, you know, put that in a box,” says Eddie Rosenstein, a therapist in Brooklyn. “But it’s also a blessing to be able to be available to others and put your problems in a box.” “And so that was actually the greatest gift it could be, to not be attached to me.”
This idea resonates with Michelle, who says her fears “were pushed aside once she was with other people in the process of dealing with it.” “It actually feels good in the midst of this dark time. Like I’m doing something.”
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