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Mental health professionals who treat anxiety say they are hearing the same name over and over again: Donald Trump

WASHINGTON — You may have heard of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a malady that the president have some of his supporters have often referred t...
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WASHINGTON — You may have heard of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a malady that the president have some of his supporters have often referred to when deriding his progressive critics.

But mental health professionals across the nation have been seeing a rise in politics-related stress among their clients, according to a recent CBC article. They term it “Trump Anxiety Disorder,” and they report that its symptoms have been on the rise.

Elisabeth LaMotte, founder of the D.C. Counselling and Psychotherapy Center, calls it 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 told CBC. “It’s very disorienting and constantly unsettling.”

And it isn’t only affecting Trump’s critics, CBC says. Even his supporters have told LaMotte about the pain of “feeling socially or familially isolated” for supporting the president’s agenda, “even if they don’t support his tactics,” CBC reports.

“Trump Anxiety Disorder” was first coined by psychologist Jennifer Panning of Evanston, Ill., in 2017. She says the condition was distinguished from a generalized anxiety disorder because “symptoms were specific to the election of Trump and the resultant unpredictable sociopolitical climate,” CBC reports.

It’s not an official diagnosis, but its symptoms are common. There’s a feeling of loss of control and helplessness. People fret about what’s happening in the country and spend excessive time on social media reading about it, CBC says.

But Trump’s critics aren’t the only ones feeling stressed these days, according to CBC. His supporters also report they’re feeling more stressed, citing uncivil discourse and attacks on the president.

Washington therapist Steve Stosny told CBC 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.”

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

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

“It reminds me of how I felt after 9/11,” said Gale, 38. “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.”

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.

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