The election day itself was certainly a grueling one for the campaign workers, survey workersand political journalists.
But the next day things got tough therapistsmany of them saw their practices being overwhelmed while they were personally upset with the outcome of the election.
“This morning, I was more or less crying while my client was crying,” Danielle, a New York state therapist (who asked that only her name be used due to privacy concerns), said Wednesday.
He says he started the day off thinking, “I don’t know how I’m going to do this,” and at one point he considered taking Wednesday off. “But then I was like, ‘I can’t take a day off,'” she says. “I’m a therapist.”
Being a mental health professional is always stressful, of course. This week brought a little more intensity to many of the practices, especially the clients who supported Kamala Harris.
It also brought a higher volume of patients: on Wednesday, the national mental health reserves were launched Zocdocvirtual platform, jumped 22% between 6 and 8 am alone. Mental health provider Spring Health reported a 24% increase in member account creation from November 4th to November 5th, and most significantly, a whopping 240% increase in appointment bookings from November 3rd to November 4th.
Crisis lines also saw a jump: The The Trevor ProjectFor LGBTQ youth, he said to him Washington Post Calls, texts and chats increased by 125% on Election Day and Wednesday. Crisis text line he saw his volume increase by a third On election day
The therapists tell it anecdotally luck many patients called for extra emergency sessions on Wednesday, ending therapy altogether while others decided to return to treatment.
“The last few days have been taxing” Matthew usuallyLMSW and executive clinical director of LifeStance, a provider network, says. “For many left-leaning clients, we’re seeing a sense of heaviness and feelings of being in ‘crisis mode’. I’ve seen and heard clients feel a sense of anxiety and a point where they’re suffering from catastrophe. There’s a pervasive sense of information and emotional overload.”
And, Solit added, “Clinicians are as vulnerable as the rest of the population.”
When the therapists are as stunned as the patients
The therapists spoke luck they said this week that post-Election Day felt different than usual because, in most cases, they were dealing with the same grief and fear and desperation as customers.
“I always had strict boundaries all the time – it’s not a big deal, but people didn’t know anything about me,” Danielle said. luck. “And I think that during the lockdown, what’s happening to everybody is happening to you.” Being a blank slate during that time “didn’t feel right,” he says, noting that the experience is helping him through this week. “I think I’m more human with people.”
To take care of herself, she had a therapy session and “has given up cooking this week,” she says. “But I don’t have anything magical.”
Sandy Silverman, a therapist in New York who has been in practice for more than 30 years, says this week marked her third time in “a big, shared crisis,” she says. “The first was September 11. It was next covid. And now there’s this, where (my patients) know I’m struggling, too, with what they’re struggling with… I can’t spill it to them, but I’ve shared how hard this is. It relies on a group of colleagues for personal support.
Solit says that for him, post-election stress is very different from the pandemic. “covid it affected the whole nation and had a profound effect on people of all ages,” he says. “As a virus, COVID was apolitical, although the response from many people and politicians was definitely divisive… This is different from how much more polarized the election results were. It’s much more divisive. As a clinician, the lifestyle changes caused by COVID as a virus and without bias debate We should be much more careful when discussing the stress of the elections, to give a fair and ethical treatment.’
Rhode Island private practice therapist Anna Macgregor’s biggest challenge Wednesday was actually keeping her feelings about the election in line.
“I was working really, really hard, much harder than I normally would, to get rid of my bias,” he says, even though all his clients are Harris supporters. “I was so focused on making a safe space for their issues on the show, so what I was pushing was pretty overwhelming… I’m always bringing my true self to work, but I had to put a lot of myself out there.”
Michelle, a Massachusetts therapist who asked that her last name not be used due to privacy concerns, said her challenge was not to lose hope, especially when a particular client really wanted to take the plunge. “That was hard for me because I’m trying to manage my disappointment,” he says, “and while some were in and out, it was a full session for this person.”
Some therapists felt better about focusing on others
Alex Rascovar, a therapist in New York, spoke of the relief he felt from focusing on other people’s emotions rather than his own.
“As hard as my feelings are, the more I get to help, it helps me process my own thing,” Rascovar says. “Not to say that we’re actively doing that, but the more that people’s feelings are there, the more that I’m in this place, that I’m doing something right. . . And doing something feels better than doing nothing.”
Brooklyn therapist Eddie Rosenstein says, “It was so hard to wake up and cry with my wife and start being a therapist and, you know, put that in a box. But it’s also a blessing to be able to be available to other people and put your pain in the box. And so , that was the greatest gift that could have been, not to do it to me.’
That idea resonates with Michelle, who “set aside her fears by actually being in that process with other people,” she says. “Honestly, it feels good in the middle of this dark time. As if I was doing something.’
More information on mental health:
Subscribe to Well Adjusted, our newsletter full of easy strategies to work smarter and live better, from the Fortune Well team. Sign up free today
