Election Depression? Dealing With Anger, Denial, Grief

(Newswire.net — December 6, 2016) Encinitas, CA — In the early hours of November 9th, Sarah Blakeford felt like she was awake during her own nightmare.

“I’ve always been passionate about political issues. At 3 AM, when I found out Trump had won, the shock continued for days only to make way as my anger and fear escalated. The surreal nature of this has yet to subside.” she said.

Since election night, Sarah like so many others, has been unconsolable on numerous occasions and even lashed out without provocation. “I’m normally a pretty calm person. However, I caught myself on more than one occasion raising my voice with friends… I didn’t even ask who they voted for… I was just upset.”

While the 2016 Presidential campaign will never be described as normal, the emotional temperature of the country, including grief over the results, is normal—but heightened.

“The grief we are seeing, even weeks after the election is unprecedented for an election, but pretty common based on the emotions it raised during the campaign,” said Paula Shaw, Southern California’s leading grief counselor.

The experiences Shaw hears in her office and as she speaks around the country has a common thread. Although grieving over election results is not typical, people she speaks with all share a projection of fear on what the future holds for them.

“Many people, especially minorities, are harboring a deep-seated fear for their culture. Based on the rhetoric of the election and the spin by many in the media, a person’s emotions are all over the place,” said Shaw. Her #1 Amazon Best Selling book, Grief: When Will this Pain Ever End gives the reader a clear understanding surrounding grief. More importantly, the tools she includes in her book have helped thousands of people worldwide.

The explosion of social media, a 24-hour news cycle, combined with a ‘fearlessness’ behind the computer have all likely contributed to the intensity of our emotions. Regardless of the source of our anger, fear or shock, all healing starts with normalizing the grief.

“The journey to normalization stars off with accepting your feelings of grief” Shaw said. “It’s OK to grieve. It’s normal to cry. In fact, if one tries to “get over” or ignore their emotions, like water hitting a stone in a river, the water has to go somewhere. Most people’s unresolved grief converts to stress or even physical illness.”

Blakeford was in shock for nearly a week after the election. Her anger and irrational outbursts continued for about 3 weeks thereafter.

When it comes to managing grief, most people don’t know what to say. Even well-meaning people often do more harm than good. “You are in denial.” or “Get over it.” are platitudes that may make the person who is trying to help feel better, but rarely help the person in grief.

‘Denial’ actually acts as a buffer to enable the body and the mind to catch up with the facts of a sudden loss. A state of temporary denial allows people an opportunity to absorb the impact of the loss or the change without having to immediately deal with it.

Those who are still grieving the election should realize they aren’t crazy, they are not alone and the results of the election won’t impact their lives as much as their personal actions will.

“The roller coaster of the election is not over. As the years progress, we can expect more uncertainty and spikes in our emotions,” Shaw said.

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