by Sean Salai

More shocked John Kerry supporters on Wednesday sought psychological help with "post-election selection trauma" in South Florida, prompting the American Health Association to officially release symptoms of the disorder and open its doors for free counseling.
"When someone commits suicide in New York and Kerry's loss is even slightly connected, it's serious," Rob Gordon, executive director of the AHA, told the Boca Raton News. "There's a lot of older Democrats here and they outnumber Republicans and you don't want an epidemic of suicides with the elderly. So our counseling center is now open free to those with post-election selection depression, PEST, who need to exorcise their demons."
According to Gordon, the Boca-based AHA has formally defined the symptoms of PEST and will offer the free sessions through the end of the year. He said approximately 30 people had contacted AHA for psychological counseling since Kerry conceded the presidential race to President Bush on Nov. 3.
Gordon said symptoms of the trauma are similar to post-traumatic stress disorder and include loss of appetite, sleeplessness, nightmares and pervasive moodiness.
The AHA's actions come after the Boca Raton News reported Tuesday that Palm Beach County psychotherapist Douglas Schooler has already treated 15 Kerry supporters using intense hypnotherapy. Schooler, contacted Wednesday, said four more people had already set up appointments for the onetime therapy session since the article was picked up internationally and cited on Rush Limbaugh's radio show.
"The problem is out there and it's not going to go away anytime soon," Schooler said. "Conservatives are calling me to say these people are weak-kneed kooks, but they're not acknowledging that this is a normal psychological response to a severe and disillusioning situation. Any suggestion that this is not a serious problem arises from a political agenda. The Republicans don't want this talked about."
Nancy M. Tabet, a mental health counselor with a small practice in Delray Beach, said she had helped about five clients deal with the post-election trauma in their therapy sessions.
"It's interesting to me that people in Palm Beach County, because they vote for Kerry and thoroughly expected him to win, are in somewhat of a disbelief stage," Tabet said. "We talk it out in our sessions and I help them realize there are people who share their viewpoint and who are there for them throughout this ordeal."
Asked when the Kerry-related trauma would end, Tabet said, "I think the jury's still out on that one. I think it depends on the swing of the politics."
Elizabeth Foxman, a cognitive therapist in Delray, took issue with the AHA's decision to label the Kerry-related stress as a new sort of trauma.
"I don't disagree with their diagnosis, but I wouldn't use the word trauma," Foxman said. "That's a loaded term. I would say there's more sadness and anxiety than trauma. My own patients have been stressed, but only one or two have mentioned the election as a topic in therapy."
Gordon, the AHA psychotherapist, said his agency was referring his 30 callers - most of them men - to other support groups prior to Wednesday. He said the post-election trauma will require three to four support group sessions at his agency's counseling center, but added that he thinks the problem will fade as the troubled Kerry supporters adjust to reality.
"The support group structure means you have to bring these people together for several sessions," Gordon said. "But every day is a new day. John Ashcroft's resignation is going to help because Democrats certainly felt the cause of their stress was bigger than President Bush. If Condoleeza Rice and a few others resign, that will help cure their animosity as well."
Gordon said he had received a flood of phone calls from Republicans since Limbaugh, the conservative radio talk show host who lives in South Florida, read his name on the air Tuesday.
"It's a shame that so many Republicans are calling and saying, ?Why can't these people handle reality?' Some can't. And what is with these right-wing radio warlords who think they need to bask in the misery of others? Rush Limbaugh, of all people, should be compassionate because he lives right here in Palm Beach County. I'm ashamed that he's picked up this Boca News story to rub it in Democrats' faces."
Gordon added, "Post-election selection trauma affects many people and they have a right to be taken seriously and to seek counseling. This is a real need and we're a charity. This is not a matter of Republicans and Democrats."

by Sean Salai

A post-therapy John Kerry supporter spoke out about her trauma treatment for the first time this weekend, saying Florida psychologist Douglas Schooler took her from the depths of despair over President Bush's victory to a new lease on life.
Forty-four year old Karen of Boca Raton, a divorced mother of one who didn't want her last name in print, called the trauma specialist's intensive election therapy "profoundly effective" and described his hypnosis technique as "a healing process."
"I wasn't sleeping," Karen told the Boca Raton News in an interview. "I was very devastated and very astonished that people would re-elect this president. I was moody about the war and economic issues. I felt very unsettled and fearful. I thought, ?Oh no, what will happen for four years?'"
Karen, whose medical insurance covers the treatment, said she approached Schooler last week after finding herself unable to function publicly due to President Bush's re-election.
"Dr. Schooler absolutely understood the pain this election caused me and he opened my mind to a new point of view," Karen said. "You're relaxed, he talks to you and you just come out of it feeling more positive and renewed. It took one session. He did some relaxation techniques and probably did some things I didn't even realize."
A Schooler client for seven years, dating back to her divorce, Karen said the doctor helped her realize it had been unhealthy for her to expect Kerry to win.
"If I'd had time, I would have volunteered for Kerry, but I work full-time," Karen said. "I was so invested emotionally, watching the debates, and was very disturbed whenever I heard a Marine has been killed. I thought Bush's actions were war crimes. But I'm sleeping again since the therapy and have felt better ever since. I don't know what will happen now, but I'm going to take it day by day and see what happens."
The Boca Raton News reported last week that more than 45 South Florida Kerry supporters sought psychological help after the Democratic candidate conceded to Bush on Nov. 3.
That number, including 20 patients treated by Schooler, had risen to more than 50 by the weekend.
"One woman I treated the other day said the election triggered other issues in her life," Schooler said. "Stuff she had been working on for a long time became worse. That's pretty common in trauma cases: A small thing like an election triggers longstanding mental problems."
In addition to Schooler's one-shot hypnotherapy, more than 30 people have called the non-profit American Health Association at 561-361-9091 to sign up for free support group therapy.
Executive Director Rob Gordon said Friday that AHA's first election support group is scheduled for after Thanksgiving. The Boca-based charity, which has more than 500 professional and non-professional volunteers in Palm Beach and Broward counties, is offering the free sessions through the end of the year.
"I've been talking to people and coaching them on the phone," Gordon said. "Most are older than 50 and their mental issues stem from the 2000 election."
Gordon said no one outside Florida had contacted AHA about treatment for the new form of trauma, which his organization has dubbed Post Election Selection Trauma (PEST).
"These unresolved issues from four years ago seem worst in Palm Beach County because this is where the pregnant chad scandal happened," he said. "People here still think Bush was appointed, not elected. But I'm sure psychologists in California and maybe New York are also organizing group therapy sessions."
Since the Boca News broke the election therapy story on Monday, Gordon said he had been flooded by calls from Republicans who don't take the trauma seriously. However, he said he received a phone call Friday afternoon from FOX News commentator Bill O'Reilly and expects to defend his diagnosis on The O'Reilly Factor next week.
A psychologist at the Boca-based Center for Group Counseling, whose spokeswoman last Monday was referring depressed Kerry voters to the Democratic National Committee, said he thinks AHA and Schooler are unethically using the Kerry supporters' misery for self-promotion.
"The word ?trauma' is overused and I haven't seen Kerry voters traumatized according to the existing definition," said William A. Weitz, adult program manager. "Certainly we've had people discussing their responses to the election at regular support group meetings, but the idea you would use hypnosis on them doesn't make sense to me."
Boca Mayor Steven L. Abrams, a Republican, said post-election therapy is "more of the same" in a city where people already spend tens of thousands of dollars a pop on plastic surgeons, beauticians and matchmakers.
"I do think it's silly," Abrams said.
"I also think these front-page conspiracy theories are silly. People are saying the election was fixed in Democratic counties that voted for Bush. But these are, like, the rural Democratic counties that have consistently cast tons of votes for Republican presidential candidates. That's why they call them ?Dixiecrats.' One of the counties is literally Dixie County."

Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@bocanews.com or 561-893-6427.