It’s a Disease!
Humor, National Politics Comments (2)
It’s been a busy day here at the political desk, only now we discover that the problems facing Democrats are really based in a new mental disorder: Post-Election Selection Syndrome. According to the American Health Association, the symptoms of this disorder include:
- Feelings of withdrawal
- Feelings of isolation
- Emotional anger and bitterness
- Loss of appetite
- Sleeplessness
- Nightmares
- Pervasive moodiness, including endless sulking
- Excessively worried about the direction of the country
Now, of course, I’m not a psychotherapist, but with the exception of “excessively worried about the direction of the country” part, this sounds pretty close to what the DSM-IV would term “clinical depression” if you simply must say that this is a mental disorder at all. Personally, I think that there are people out there who really are this disturbed by the election’s results, but this particular move seems to be far more motivated by the potential for making profits from a new, bogus mental disorder than from genuinely helping people who may have a genuine problem.
On a lighter note, we the article linked to above is a follow up to this one, which includes these two gems:
“We’re referring people with election-related stress to the Democratic National Committee,” said Karen Jacobs of the Center for Group Counseling. “We’ll do what we can for anyone who shows up for our support group programs this week, but we haven’t implemented a specific program for Kerry-related trauma.”
Honestly, I chuckled when I read that, but she’s on to something there in a more serious vein. If you didn’t like the outcome of the 2004 election then you need to get involved. If you’re one of the people dejected by Kerry’s loss, contact your local Democratic party and ask them how you can help. If you’re happy with the results, contact your local Republican party and ask them how you help keep the movement going in a forward direction. No matter your thoughts on the outcome last Tuesday, the solution to getting what you want is to get more deeply involved in our political process.
And finally, this one for the “I’ll bet that’s exactly what you do” file:
“A lot of Kerry voters don’t know what to do with their anger, because there was no recount, so they’ve kept it bottled up,” said Schooler, who also is a certified sex therapist. “I help them transform the anger into more positive emotions.”
How can I top that?
MickC @ November 10, 2004