Wynn Schwartz from Boston wrote: “Politics and religion are the third rails of psychotherapy. Therapists are often at a loss when their client’s politics strongly conflict with their own. My clinical psychology trainees rarely have trouble asking their clients to explore something problematic. But when therapy touches politics, trainees are awkward and uncertain about what they should appropriately ask. What does the liberal progressive therapist do when working with an ardent Trump supporter?”

DrLaura from Nashville wrote: “I am a therapist and never, in my life as a therapist, has politics ever been brought up in sessions until now. In the week after the 2005 tape came out and the second debate, every female client brought up how triggered they were; many of them were reminded of their own history of sexual assault. Some of my clients disclosed their own stories of being sexually assaulted for the very first time — never before having courage to tell anyone.”

What Patients Are Telling their Therapists

Banjokatt from Chicago wrote: “My immediate family is quite conservative and we have a policy that we will never discuss politics during family get-togethers. I have started talking about the election with my therapist. It’s good to know that there is at least one person with whom I can share my concerns.”

Michael Sapko from Maryland wrote: “I have brought up election anxiety in at least four sessions with my therapist. I felt embarrassed to do so since it seemed trivial. Now I take some comfort in knowing I am not alone. Am I weak? Maybe. Do I need to toughen up? Perhaps. But that is how I feel, and I have paid therapists to help me work through it. That hasn’t happened in any previous election, and I hope it won’t happen again.”

Ellen from Virginia wrote: “I was just sharing my thoughts on this with my therapist last week. The election has brought divisiveness and stress to my relationship with my two teenage sons. Yes, it has stirred some good discussions about politics and the democratic process, but I find myself getting angry with their entrenched opinions. I’m afraid that they are blindly following the male dominant opinion in this race, and I’m struggling to educate them to use judgment, balance and nuance.”