This week at the Circus South of the 49th

 http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-anxiety-disorder-mental-health-political-divide-us-1.4762487

In a divided U.S., therapists treating anxiety are hearing the same name over and over: Donald Trump

'Trump Anxiety Disorder' may not be an official diagnosis, but therapists know the symptoms

Matt Kwong · CBC · Posted: Jul 28, 2018 4:00 AM ET 

U.S. President Donald Trump's name comes up an awful lot when Americans discuss their politics-related anxiety with their therapists. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

3627 Comments but it was 3655 hours before I refreshed the page
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Paul O'Donovan

I suggest everyone do what they can to have him removed. In Canada we can boycott all things US. Spread the word!

Patrick O'Connor

@Paul O'Donovan

In 2020, American voters can remove President Donald

That is lawful recourse in a Republic

David Amos

@Patrick O'Connor I agree

Methinks its wickedly comical why so many Canadian folks get so upset and ignore the obvious in that what goes on the the Yankee Congress is none of their business. Instead of paying attention to the nonsense brought to us by our parliamentarians on a daily basis at least folks can get some comic relief by merely watching the circus south of the 49th unfold its tent around the world. It is the greatest show on earth N'esy Pas?

ALEX Chiasson

@Paul O'Donovan How about look after yourself and vote with your own educated views rather than following the hysterical crowds.

 

Perry McDonald

@Paul O'Donovan
People are getting upset upset over nothing. Trump will be president until the next election. No one is boycotting the US, at least not enough to make a difference. Life goes on here in Canada just like usual.

 

david mccaig

@Paul O'Donovan

hearing the name Donald Trump , they cant believe madness rules their country. it's like some TV show from the Twilight Zone the can't shut off

david mccaig

@Richard Sharp

richard get over it and carry on.

Kham Hammerschmam

@David Amos

Most of us can lend attention to multiple systems at once.

What I pay attention to is, in fact, none of your business.

David Amos

@ALEX Chiasson I agree

David Amos

@Perry McDonald YUP

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David Amos

@david mccaig "it's like some TV show from the Twilight Zone the can't shut off"

Methinks you resemble your own remark as you pummel all the comment sections as per your MO and reply to the ghost of your fellow left wingnut Sharpy N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Kham Hammerschmam Methinks I largely agree. However you cross the line when you opt to make your issues mine by jerking my chain. After all you cannot deny that I am the Canadian citizen you political spin doctors hate because ran for public office 5 times while being married to an American woman and the Proud Father of two Yankees and who suing the Crown right now N'esy Pas?

 

Neil Austen

Trump and Republicans are just disgusting. How are Americans just not mortified and filled with outrage at this Gong Show president. According to The Washington Post, Trump made 1,145 false or misleading claims during his first 232 days in office. That's roughly five a day — more or less the same rate as an incorrigible eight-year-old. Hopefully Trump will serve as a cautionary example for Canadians, reminding them that Canada will never survive another Trump-Harper style government in power.

Val Bertrand

@Neil Austen Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah - the leftists can't help it, they need to bash Trump even on a weekend to deflect from the failures of that Unethical MeToo guy Justin.

Val Bertrand

@Neil Austen This Communist cheerleader Neil always spreading his Hate Speech and as usual CBC is very tolerant of that.

David Amos

@Val Bertrand I agree

David Amos

@Val Bertrand YUP

 

Greg Stafford

Just looking at Trump makes my stomach roll. The guy is despicable. 2020 can't come soon enough.

Nicholas Andrews

@Greg Stafford
Bet you just loved The Apprentice!!!

David Amos

@Nicholas Andrews Methinks of that I have me doubts but then again a may have to bow to your perception of the situation and admit that many a true word is said in jest because everybody loves a circus N'esy Pas?

  

James Miller

The guy is absolutely nuts, and he is driving everybody else, nuts. What's new?

David Amos

@James Miller What's new?

Methinks its more of the same old same old but I am still enjoying the circus called the US Congress because it is the greatest show on earth bar none N'esy Pas?

 

Heath Tierney

Just like in any business, the leadership sets the tone.

The American tone is now wholly dysfunctional. That is trump's doing.

Patrick O'Connor

@Heath Tierney

Holding up a mirror up to ourselves is the net benefit of the Trump Administration

Truth is nothing we should be afraid of

Robert Lee

@Heath Tierney

In Ontario we got Ford.

Nothing but calamity and protestation on a daily basis.

Caution, cons at work.

David Amos

@Patrick O'Connor "Truth is nothing we should be afraid of"

Methinks it would be a wonderful world if only that were true N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Robert Lee Methinks you are gonna have to cry quite a river before all the folks who got rid of the liberals and elected Ford in lieu of the NDP begin to agree with you N'esy Pas?

 

Mary Burns

Fear of nuclear war or other means of annihilation of the human race has been with us at least since the 1950s. Let's not give Trump too much credit. Although, maybe having a disease named after him will stroke his ego. Almost as good as a Nobel prize.

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David Amos

@Mary Burns Good point and right on topic

Methinks many would agree that you should win the award for the best comment in this forum.

In my humble opinion Trump should have had no credibility whatsoever anywhere out of the gate in 2015 but his GOP opponents were worse and Hillary was a total loser. The Donald persists because the democrats and the republicans are still no better than they were in 2015 if not worse N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Mary Burns Good point and right on topic

 

Lilli Delf

This man is upsetting and almost destroying people, countries and the world and he even doesn't a single weapon. Words can do so much damage! Maybe that's his plan....

Clayton Allen

@Lilli Delf "almost destroying people, countries and the world" this is a bold statement as Trump has done nothing of the kind. Looks like somebody is feeling triggered. Obama the bomb dropping, drone firing president did more to hurt people countries and the world than Trump. A little media spin make all the difference.

David Amos

@Clayton Allen I agree

  

Andrew McLaren

The classic calling-card of neo-conservatives over the past few decades has been initialized as “FUD” that is, Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt. Trump has managed to amp these base, emotional aspects of the collective American psyche beyond any of his predecessors; it is remarkable that he retains support by doubling down on appeals to the irrational, on a practically daily basis.

Henry Smith

@Andrew McLaren
Seriously let's get some self awareness on who has been practicing FUD in the past half decade. Leftists have been trying to convince Americans fascism has returned in America. Nothing but fear and hate.

David Amos

@Andrew McLaren True

David Amos

@Henry Smith Methinks you are correct as well because there is no difference in any political party in Canada and the USA they all bow to Bibi and Boyz N'esy Pas?

 Juan Manilla

I see that the broadcaster is shaping the narrative a certain way again

David Amos

@Juan Manilla YUP

 
Stan Cox

Hardly a uniter.

Depending on how much you allow partisan politics to influence your judgement, Trump's many character flaws either disqualify him for his job - or they're no big deal.

Patrick O'Connor

@Stan Cox

It is giant US corporations that are perpetuating this meme war against the Trump Administration

Why is that?

If our corporate media memes the opposite, we would all love President Donald as much as we loved all things Obama Administration

What do giant worldwide corporations have at risk by those people who work for the current US Administration?

Why such panic?

Sandy Gillis

@Patrick O'Connor
Okay, a couple of things:

1) A meme is a picture with a funny caption on it, hardly something that requires the resources of a large corporation to put together. Anyone with even the most basic Photoshop skills can whip one up in seconds.

2) If you think that Corporate America by and large is against Trump, then you would be what is commonly referred to as an "easy mark". Sure, there are some industries (i.e. the ones Trump doesn't own stock in) that are upset about tariffs, but the big Wall Street financial corporations and the lobbyists (you know, that swamp that Trump had his fans breathing fire about) are very well represented in cabinet and laws and regulations are being remade for their personal benefit.

Patrick O'Connor

@Sandy Gillis

Sorry, you do not understand the science of propaganda

Canadian used to understand how meme was used to destroy the lives of millions on Europeans, last century

One does not understand weaponized memes as a means to change people’s basic assumptions of those who become it’s victim

Patrick O'Connor

@Sandy Gillis

For instance, how many Canadians have changed their minds with regards to doing business with others who have a Russian last name?

For those idle minds, why not ask Canadian countrymen with Russian names whether they perceive a cooling off of their business ties?

It’s certainly out there; I know it has happened in the way I do business

Sandy Gillis

@Patrick O'Connor
I understand it perfectly Patrick, but apparently you have some trouble understanding simple sentences. I didn't say the memes didn't exist, I said memes are easy to create with today's technology, and it's ridiculous to point to corporate America as the source of Trump-themed memes, as they are the ones benefitting most from his rule.

David Amos

@Sandy Gillis Methinks you understand nothing you proved that to me months ago You just like to argue N'esy Pas?

Sandy Gillis

@David Amos
Says the guy who keeps talking to me. Do you just like to argue? Or are you just dying for attention?

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David Amos

@Sandy Gillis Do ya still want me to call you?

Sandy Gillis

@David Amos
No David, I have no interest in speaking to you. I find you to be incredibly annoying and self-aggrandizing, and I have yet to see you have anything of worth to say. I would prefer to stop seeing you trolling on here, and I certainly have no desire to hear your trolling in my ear.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ryan-sessions-rosenstein-impeachment-threat-1.4762790

Top Republicans tamp down renegades who want to impeach Rod Rosenstein

Paul Ryan, Jeff Sessions say the impeachment drive should be a non-starter

Thomson Reuters · Posted: Jul 26, 2018 1:02 PM ET

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin attends a news conference following a Republican caucus meeting Tuesday. He supports Rod Rosenstein. (The Associated Press)

1242 Comments 

Commenting is now closed for this story.

 
Kevin Delaney

Republicans searching for their credibility like it was a lost shaker of salt & they have some serious drinking to do.

George Abbott

@Aaron Morris
I only know one good man and his name is George Abbott. A genuine gentleman. Retired veteran with a chest full of medals.

David Amos

@George Abbott I never heard of the former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister George Abbot until the NDP hired him last years. and I am not certain if he is a veteran of if it is he whom you are referring to or just having fun with his name. However methinks anyone can Google my name and stress test my ethics all they wish N'esy Pas?

Tanner Moorman

@David Amos David Amos. A joke that just isn’t funny.

David Amos

@Kevin Delaney Methinks if the wannabe speaker Jim Jordan were remotely ethical he would have mentioned my name long ago Everybody knows why by now N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Tanner Moorman Methinks if a lot of folks reviewed YOUR comments they would see nothing to laugh at. I should feel honoured that you hate me N'esy Pas?

In a divided U.S., therapists treating anxiety are hearing the same name over and over: Donald Trump

'Trump Anxiety Disorder' may not be an official diagnosis, but therapists know the symptoms

Matt Kwong · CBC · Posted: Jul 28, 2018 4:00 AM ET 

U.S. President Donald Trump's name comes up an awful lot when Americans discuss their politics-related anxiety with their therapists. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)


"Is he gonna blow us all up?"

So inquired one of Elisabeth LaMotte's patients recently, fretting out loud about the volatility of U.S. President Donald Trump's actions during a therapy session at her Washington practice.

It was a rhetorical question — one that predated Trump's threats of a showdown with Iran this week. But if the question wasn't meant in earnest, the politically induced anxiety LaMotte is hearing about from her clients certainly is, says the founder of the D.C. Counselling and Psychotherapy Center.

She refers to it as a "collective anxiety" among patients who feel on edge about how potentially dire the president's decisions could be.

"There is a fear of the world ending," she said. "It's very disorienting and constantly unsettling."

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attends a meeting with a group of Foreign Ministry officials in Tehran on Sunday. Rouhani has warned Trump against provoking his country, while indicating peace might still be possible. (Iranian Presidency Office via Associated Press)

What's been called "Trump Anxiety Disorder" has been on the rise in the months following the election, according to mental-health professionals from across the country who report unusually high levels of politics-related stress in their practices.

And it's maybe not surprising given the relentlessly negative headlines and politically divisive climate.

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump

To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!

11:24 PM - Jul 22, 2018

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• 231K people are talking about this

This week, it was a menacing all-caps Trump tweet warning Iran about potentially historic "CONSEQUENCES." Previously, it was his Supreme Court picks and fears that the legal right to abortion could be overturned, or his immigration policies separating families at the border, or his apparent submission to Russian President Vladimir Putin before a global audience.

From Trump supporters, LaMotte hears about the pain of "feeling socially or familially isolated" for supporting the president's agenda, "even if they don't support his tactics."

From Trump's detractors, LaMotte has been struck by how much their anxieties resemble those of patients raised by a parent with a personality disorder — someone who would display traits like "grandiosity, excessive attention-seeking and severe lack of empathy."

"Whether it's conscious or not, I think we look to the president of the United States as a psychological parent," she said.

The symptoms

In a 2017 essay for a book co-edited by psychiatrists from Harvard Medical School and the Yale School of Medicine, clinical psychologist Jennifer Panning of Evanston, Ill., called the condition "Trump Anxiety Disorder," distinguishing it from a generalized anxiety disorder because "symptoms were specific to the election of Trump and the resultant unpredictable sociopolitical climate."

Though not an official diagnosis, the symptoms include feeling a loss of control and helplessness, and fretting about what's happening in the country and spending excessive time on social media, she said.

(Trump and his supporters, for their part, have their own term for a malady they see as afflicting only reactionary, anti-Trump progressives: "Trump Derangement Syndrome.")

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump

 · 26 Jul

.@AlanDersh, a brilliant lawyer, who although a Liberal Democrat who probably didn’t vote for me, has discussed the Witch Hunt with great clarity and in a very positive way. He has written a new and very important book...

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump

...called “The Case Against Impeaching Trump,” which I would encourage all people with Trump Derangement Syndrome to read!

6:48 PM - Jul 26, 2018

• 62.2K
• 29.5K people are talking about this

Panning said intense consumption of media coverage of this presidency is making some people's Trump-related anxiety worse.

"They say they're wondering what's next," she said.

Trump's appointment of one conservative justice to the Supreme Court and the recent nomination of another has left one of her married lesbian clients "significantly concerned about the legitimacy of their marriage in the future," she said.

Researchers say fixating on the news and social media can increase politically induced stress. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Connie Sherman, the manager of a dental practice in San Diego, said she's been sleeping fitfully post-election, constantly checking her phone for the latest headlines in the wee hours.

"When [special counsel] Robert Mueller's indictments news dropped, I wound up staying up in the middle of the night when I should have been sleeping, just thinking about it, just worried for our country," she said.

Stress of supporting Trump

The American Psychological Association has recorded a rise in anxiety in the Trump era, with a five per cent increase (52 to 57 per cent) in politically induced stress levels over a six-month period before, during and after the 2016 election. Overall, stress levels were the highest they've been in a decade, according to the APA.

In an online survey in February 2017, two-thirds of Americans — including most Democrats as well as most Republicans — said they were stressed about the future of the nation. Most of the more than 3,500 people polled blamed the extreme political polarization for their anxiety. There was a strong correlation between stress levels and electronic news consumption.

One symptom of Trump-related anxiety is a fear of what might happen next — including, for example, how his judicial appointments could impact controversial issues like abortion rights. (Leah Millis/Reuters)

Some Trump supporters also report feeling more stressed, confiding to therapists that uncivil discourse and attacks on the president were causing them anxiety.

Washington therapist Steve Stosny recounted how an official with the Trump administration came to see him not long ago. At work, the official explained, he felt anxious about his high-pressure job in a highly scrutinized White House. At home, he faced a more personal turmoil: his liberal-leaning family grew to resent him for working for Trump.

"His daughter was starting to hate him," Stosny said. "It was very hard on his spouse, too. The wife couldn't take it anymore. It's tough when one spouse is at war with the children."

• Trump fires off explosive threat to Iran's leader: 'BE CAUTIOUS!'

The patient eventually left his job, but the damage was already done. The couple began divorce proceedings, Stosny said.

According to the APA, a person's political affiliation can affect their risk of anxiety. About 26 per cent of Republicans polled post-election considered "the political climate" to be a source of stress, compared to 72 per cent of Democrats who felt the same way.

Pro-Trump supporters face off with anti-Trump protesters outside a Trump rally in Phoenix, Ariz., back in August 2017. Some supporters of the president say the judgment and vitriol they're subjected to by Trump opponents stresses them out. (Sandy Huffaker/Reuters)

Jaime Gale, a Trump supporter in Avon Lake, Ohio, often shares her anxiety over politics with her therapist.

"It reminds me of how I felt after 9/11," said Gale, 38, referencing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., a time when she felt "fear of the unknown and unfamiliar."

"It scared the crap out of me. Now I'm scared of getting pounced on by somebody who doesn't like me because of Trump, just online."

The internet marketing consultant, who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder, backs the president as a champion of border security and a strong steward of the economy.

But the at-times abusive attacks on Trump's leadership from liberals are hurtful and can make her blood boil.

"I see that rage and anger in other people — I feel it brought out in me, too."

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Gale said she once got so drawn into the "vitriol" from liberal critics online that she had an anxiety attack.

Especially "disheartening" to Gale was being labelled a "racist" and "fascist" for supporting the president's policies.

Therapists around the country told CBC they're seeing politically tinged anger and anxiety from patients no matter their political affiliation.

In Columbus, Miss., John Hawkins's LGBTQ clients have opened up about their worries "that their marriages might be voided," while Trump supporters in his sessions worry that liberals are trying to thwart a president who is "doing the best he can."

In Oklahoma City, Kevon Owen, who practises a type of scripture-based psychotherapy known as Christian counselling, said he's "seeing a lot of people anxious about the possibility of war," and has counselled clients to stop submerging themselves in clickbait articles.

In Bardstown, Ky., clinical social worker Roland Gabbert said he's never seen such heavily politicized chatter in his office in his 40-year career.

"Both from people feeling the president is being persecuted and people just beside themselves with worry about the direction of the country."

'In our faces'

Maybe nowhere is the anxiety over politics more deeply felt than in the nation's capital, said Alison Howard, a clinical psychologist in D.C. She said she engages "on a daily basis" with patients "struggling to make sense of what's happening with this president."

"It's in our faces all the time," she said. "People here are living and working in the same city where the pulse of the government is."

In downtown Washington, a lawyer and immigrant from Uganda now working in the Department of Agriculture sat chain-smoking a pack of American Spirit cigarettes. His clinical depression was being "compounded" by a cascade of negative White House-related news, he said. So, he's started to tune it out completely.

Perhaps no place is harder hit by political anxiety than Washington, D.C., a psychologist in the capital tells CBC News. (Mary F. Calvert/Reuters)

"I had to get off social media. I had to stop paying for cable. I started only reading fiction," said the federal employee, who only gave the name Kenneth because he was worried speaking publicly might cause problems for him at his job.

"Maybe I should be talking to a therapist about this."

Asked if he had heard about the president's latest tweet to Iran's leader, he shook his head.
"Seriously, man — don't even tell me."

About the Author

 

Matt Kwong

Reporter

Matt Kwong is a Washington-based correspondent for CBC News. He previously reported for CBC News as an online journalist in New York and Toronto. You can follow him on Twitter at: @matt_kwong

• @matt_kwong

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices

Top Republicans tamp down renegades who want to impeach Rod Rosenstein

Paul Ryan, Jeff Sessions say the impeachment drive should be a non-starter

Thomson Reuters · Posted: Jul 26, 2018 1:02 PM ET

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin attends a news conference following a Republican caucus meeting Tuesday. He supports Rod Rosenstein. (The Associated Press)

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday rejected a move by fellow Republicans to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the No. 2 Justice Department official, who oversees the federal probe of Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election.

"Do I support impeachment of Rod Rosenstein? No, I do not," said Ryan, whose stance could make it easier for other Republican members to oppose the measure.

A group of Republicans in the House of Representatives on Wednesday introduced articles of impeachment to remove Rosenstein, escalating a fight over special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into whether Republican President Donald Trump's campaign worked with Moscow to sway the 2016 presidential election.

• 11 Republicans move to impeach deputy attorney general overseeing Mueller probe

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Representatives Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, who belong to the conservative House Freedom Caucus, joined nine other lawmakers in accusing Rosenstein of hiding investigative information from Congress, failure to comply with congressional subpoenas and other alleged misconduct.

No immediate action was expected on the move. The House was scheduled to leave on Thursday for a recess that extends until September. A House Republican aide said the two lawmakers were not trying to force quick action on the measure.

As well, even if the gambit were to succeed in the House, it would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate, where the Republicans hold only a slim edge in seats.

Wants to be House Speaker

Earlier, Rosenstein's boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, expressed confidence in the career civil servant and took a swipe at the lawmakers pushing for his ouster.

"My deputy, Rod Rosenstein, is highly capable. I have the highest confidence in him," Sessions said during an appearance in Boston.

"What I would like Congress to do is to focus on some of the legal challenges that are out there," including illegal immigration, the attorney general added.

• Republican-led House panel clears Trump campaign in Russia probe

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The former U.S. senator recused himself from matters that involve the Trump campaign, including the Russia probe, last year because of his role as a top adviser to the campaign.

Rosenstein, the No. 2 Justice Department official, then appointed Mueller to lead the probe after President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey. Both Sessions and Rosenstein have been publicly blasted by Trump for their actions related to the Russia probe, which the president considers a "witch hunt."

Jim Jordan is shown during a House committe hearing on July 12. There is little overall appetite for the impeachment of Rod Rosenstein among Republicans, but one of the 11 in favour, Jordan, wants to be considered as the next House Speaker. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press)

Russia has denied interfering in the election, although Vladimir Putin admitted earlier this month he wanted Trump to win over Hillary Clinton.

Democrats criticized the Republican impeachment bid. House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi noted that Rosenstein is a Republican appointee and said the Republican lawmakers were undermining the judicial system with a politically motivated action.

"The attack on Rosenstein of course is an attack on the Mueller investigation," Pelosi said at a news conference on Thursday.

Jordan, a firebrand from Ohio in office since 2007, announced on Thursday his intention to be considered as Ryan's successor as Speaker should the Republicans maintain control of the House in the November midterm elections.

• Russian intelligence members indicted in U.S., accused of election meddling

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With files from CBC News