Trump Trauma and Despair Is Real

I've written a book on Stress, Trauma and the Brain. If you want to learn about how stress can compromise your health, get the book. 5 star ratings on Amazon.

Meanwhile, take a look at this eye-popping essay.


From the LA Times:

I have never seen anything quite like the grief being felt by the majority of American voters who did not vote for Donald Trump.

Back in 1980, there was disappointment among Democrats when Ronald Reagan won. In 2000, after the long Florida recount and the intrusion of the Supreme Court into the decision, there were plenty of upset people who thought Al Gore, not George W. Bush, deserved to be president. But the losing voters in those elections were not despondent. They were not breaking out in tears weeks later. They were not waking up each morning with feelings of dread about what was to come.

This time it is different and, in my experience, unique. This is not simply a case of Hillary Clinton supporters being bad losers. For most of those who feel traumatized by what happened on Nov. 8, this is not about the candidate who won the popular vote, yet lost the election. It is about the candidate who was picked as president by the electoral college on Monday. People are mourning because the fate of their country will now be in the hands of an intellectually disinterested, reckless, mendacious narcissist.

It is not just Democrats. There are plenty of conservatives and Republicans among those feeling depressed. Their party has been captured by a man who has no bedrock belief in any principle; a man whose only allegiance appears to be to himself.

David Frum, conservative Republican and ex-Bush speechwriter, has been very explicit about what he expects from the Trump White House: corruption and authoritarianism. In a series of tweets the day after the election, Frum predicted that Trump will engage in “massive self-enrichment” and, once the media and Democrats begin investigating and criticizing his actions, he will retaliate “by means fair or foul,” utilizing the powers of the presidency and aided and abetted by a compliant Republican Congress.

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Michelle Obama: End of Hope?

Michelle Obama fed her husband's feud with Donald Trump on Friday as she gave a gloomy description of the hopeless climate his election win has created.

The First Lady used her final interview in the White House to tell Oprah Winfrey that a 'grown up' should be in charge of the country. 

Looking forward to president-elect Trump's looming inauguration, she said even though hope was lost, it was necessary to move on. 

'Now we're feeling what not having hope feels like. Hope is necessary,' she said in her first direct response to the November 9 election result.

Mrs Obama's remarks come within hours of her husband's announcement Russian hackers interfered with the election to help his successor. 

Trump, who is yet to accept the DNC hack was orchestrated by one of Putin's agencies, undermined the announcement on Twitter. 

Michelle Obama gave her final interview as First Lady on Friday, telling Oprah Winfrey that the country had lost hope since Trump's election win.

In her interview with Oprah, the First Lady said the president needs to be someone 'who can say to you in times of crisis and turmoil: "hey, it's gonna be ok"'. 

She said she was assured her husband had achieved his goal of setting a hope-fueled agenda because of the contrasting mood brought by Trump's victory. 

'Your husband's administration, everything, the election, was all about hope. Do you think that this administration achieved that?' asked Winfrey.  

In a lengthy reply, Mrs Obama said calmly: 'Yes. I do. Because we feel the difference now.

'Now, we're feeling what not having hope feels like. Hope is necessary. It's a necessary concept. 

'What else do you have if you don't have hope?'

In a glowing assessment of her husband's tenure, Mrs Obama likened him to the calming parent of the panicked toddler nation. 

'Our children respond to crisis the way they see us respond. You know, it's like the toddler bumps his head on the table and they look up at you to figure out whether it hurts and if you're like (gasp) "oh my god" they're crying but if you're like "you know what, babe it's OK"...

'And I feel that way about the nation, I feel that Barack has been that for the nation in ways that people will come to appreciate. 

'Having a grown up in the White House who can say to you in times of crisis and turmoil : "hey, it's gonna be ok", let's remember the good things that we have, let's look to the future, let's look at what we're building" - all of this is important for our kids to  stay focused and to feel like their work isn't in vain and their lives aren't in vain. 

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Campaign Launch: Teaching Hope in Trump Time

Many people I know are distraught at the upcoming new president. Michelle Obama calls it the end of hope.

Here's our idea to fight back, in a real and tangible way. Our organization, A Thousand Moms: Building Community Support for LGBT/Q Youth, has produced Healing the Brain: Stress, Trauma and LGBTQ Youth. 

Purchase a copy by making a donation of $10.00 or more to www.athousandmoms.org and we will send a copy in your name to your local public library. And they will take it.

1. So, take a look at the reviews below.
2. Make a $10.00 or more donation to A Thousand Moms at www.athousandmoms.org
3. Let us send the book to your local library (we will locate and mail directly on your behalf).

Here are some reviews of our book!

Author David Balog has done an excellent job of creating a book for educators (or anyone working with youth) that explains the complicated workings of the brain in an easy to understand manner. Balog goes on to discuss various types of trauma and how the adolescent brain responds to trauma such as depression, stress, addiction, risk taking, PTSD, etc. LGBT/Q youth may experience trauma in ways majority youth often do not. The author shares important coping strategies....I highly recommend this book!--Carol Dopp, M.Ed. 

"David Balog understands the strain of alienation, so he tackles this subject with compassion and concern. Mr. Balog draws on his knowledge of brain science to give readers insight into what happens to young people under tremendous stress, and he offers practical advice on how to help and cope."--Gary Cottle, author

Donate here on our secure Web site. Your donation is fully tax-deductible. THANK YOU!

How to call your congressman when you have social anxiety

Many people have social anxiety and the idea of call a representative to fight Trump is daunting. We talk about depression, stress, and trauma in our new book, Healing the Brain. Click for your copy. And learn about small steps to make difference.

“How to call your reps when you have social anxiety”

There’s a LOT going on in the U.S. right now. Many people’s rights and safety are at risk. You’ve probably heard that one of the most effective ways to advocate for issues you care about, or stand up against dangerous policies and appointments, is to call your local representatives.
If you want to help but have social anxiety and find phone calls very intimidating, you may be thinking, “How do I do this?!” (An oversized telephone handset hovers ominously over the narrator with its cord spiraling around her body. She looks up at it with great concern.)
Here’s a step-by-step:

1. Block off time on your calendar. Each call only takes a minute or so, but you might want to block off more time for your first call, so you can prepare your words & nerves. Don’t rush yourself! Scheduling is super important, otherwise you will perpetually delay calling.
2. At the scheduled time, go sit somewhere quiet.
3. Find out who represents you. Some places to look: House (http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/) and Senate (http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/).
4. Write out exactly what you plan to say. It only needs to be a few lines, and there are lots of templates online that you can use. e.g. “Hello! I am constituent from city (zip code) and I am calling to urge Some Name to publicly…” If they have already released a statement, don’t use that as an excuse to avoid calling. I know it’s hard, but call anyway. Thank them and ask them to keep pushing.
5. Take a deep breath. You can do this.
6. Do this: dial. (This is the hardest part.)
7. Read from your script. At this point, you’ll likely be sent to voicemail or to an actual person. The person will most likely be friendly and probably won’t have much time to talk, so you shouldn’t have to deviate much from your script. It’s a quick conversation.
8. That’s it! Say “Thank you” and hang up.

You did it! If you’re thinking “Hey, that wasn’t so bad…”, call more people! And follow up with them next week, or even tomorrow, to make sure they keep these issues top of mind.
It is okay if your voice shakes. It is okay if you feel awkward.They get a lot of calls, so they don’t have time to judge you by how well you delivered your message.
Is is also okay if you can’t call.
This week, my best friend told me, “Do something that is uncomfortable but not harmful to your mental health.” For me, calling was enough outside my comfort zone to be stressful & scary, but not so far away as to use up all my energy. That might not be the case for you, and that’s okay. Do not beat yourself up about it. There are lots of ways to take action without picking up a phone:

• Write to government officials
• Create art that challenges and art that inspires
• Donate, if you’re financially able, to organizations that fight injustice
• Listen to immigrants, people of color, women, trans and non-binary people, people of all faiths and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities. Support their work. Amplify their voices.
• Keep it up. 
  
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PTSD: Post-Trump Stress Disorder?

In our book, Healing the Brain, we give readers the history and biology of PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Get your copy here, Healing the Brain. We present below a compelling article on widespread PTSD-type misery spreading across America and the world, from Alternet.

Anguishing yet again over election results in the middle of the night, I finally realized I’m experiencing something similar to PTSD. Check out this definition from the renowned Mayo Clinic:

“Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event—either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.”

Let’s call this PTSD post-Trump stress disorder, triggered by the election, to the most powerful office in the world, of a man who’s espoused wholesale exclusion of Muslim immigrants, deporting millions of undocumented immigrants, repealing Roe v. Wade, abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency, and encouraging Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia to develop nuclear weapons, among other polarizing proposals. While post-Trump stress in no way equals the level of trauma experienced by combat veterans in Afghanistan, Iraq or Vietnam, this is an experience shared by tens of millions of Americans right now.

“Before the election, at least half of my psychotherapy clients in San Francisco were exhibiting enormous anxieties around the issues of bullying, sexual exploitation, racial and ethnic stereotyping and threats of violence associated with the Trump campaign,” observed San Francisco psychotherapist Deborah Cooper. “Now that he has actually been elected, my entire practice is experiencing this as a traumatic event.”

In addition to the classic PTSD symptoms listed above, the Mayo Clinic cites irritability, angry outbursts or aggressive behavior, overwhelming guilt or shame, depression, self-destructive behavior such as alcohol and substance abuse, trouble concentrating, trouble sleeping, and being easily startled or frightened. Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Calls to the San Francisco Suicide Prevention hotline shot up 30 percent in the first five days after Trump’s election. “Some are wondering if they’re going to have the same health care,” director Courtney Brown reported. “Others are wondering if they’re going to still be allowed to be in the country. The only comparable incidents have been 9/11 and the Loma Prieta earthquake,” she said.

For some, Trump’s threats of violence to protesters, admission of sexual assaults against women, and bullying and intimidation of political opponents and the press have raised the specter of past political traumas: the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, and his brother Robert in 1968; The fact that more than a dozen Nixon campaign operatives served time in jail for campaign finance violations and political dirty tricks—and Nixon himself resigned in 1974—provided some solace, but the shock remained.

And then there was the 2000 electoral stalemate between Al Gore and George W. Bush, ultimately decided by a 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court rather than the will of the people. The epically misguided invasion of Iraq and subsequent horrors in the Middle East as well as Brussels, Paris, Madrid and other terrorist-targeted centers, followed.

The first step in treating PTSD, psychotherapist Cooper says, is to admit you are suffering from trauma. “This is a time to reach out, feel the validation that others are experiencing similar things, and then figure out what we each can do individually about it, both emotionally and with action. Some need to take to the streets, some to the couch.” One thing Cooper warns against is trying to cope with the election as something normal. “This is not normal.”

For those contending with suicidal thoughts, San Francisco Suicide Prevention suggests additional steps.

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• Take compassionate, caring actions to support others. Help a friend in crisis, or a stranger in need, or volunteer to assist others in a cause that you care about.
• Limit your interaction with things that might aggravate your stress. In its survey on stress and the 2016 election, the American Psychological Association found that adults who use social media are more likely to be stressed out by the election than those who don’t. Unplug for a while.
• Call the Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Available 24/7, it’s free and confidential.

For those seeking a more political solution, there’s labor songwriter Joe Hill’s exhortation, “Don’t mourn, organize!”

Learn more about PTSD in our book, Healing the Brain.

 

Trump, Putin and Lies

This election was a terrifying nightmare. Partisanship abounded and tonight news from the Washington Post describes how the Russian were involved in our election and how Republicans voted to squelch a CIA investigation. Read about our brains and behavior in Healing the Brain, our new book.

In the excerpt from the Dana Foundation, below, Dr. Guy McKhann writes about lies and liars.

This is a column from Dana's print publication, Brain in the News
Those of us with children and grandchildren try to raise them with a regard for the truth. We preach that lying is unacceptable behavior. On the other hand, we may “stretch the truth” every so often: making results sound more positive, leaving out criticisms, not fully acknowledging the work of others, saying things about our research when trying to raise money that we would never say at a scientific meeting. This list could go on and on. After all, we just went through an election in which the majority of our population considered both major candidates “untrustworthy.”

Aside from a Pinocchio-like creation, the two major methods for detecting lies are polygraph and brain imaging. Polygraph machines have been around for more than 50 years. They measure physiological functions such as heart rate, respiration, and skin resistance. Accuracy varies from study to study, but the figure of 75 percent accuracy is commonly used.

The alternative is brain imaging, particularly fMRI. The idea behind this approach is that when a person is lying, or maintaining a lie, parts of the brain have to work harder. When they do, this increase in activity is represented as increased blood flow to specific brain areas. The areas are somewhat widespread and include prefrontal areas and the limbic system. However, these areas are activated in many other situations. At present there are no specific truth or lying “centers” in the brain.

A group at Penn, led by Daniel Langleben, is one of the first to make direct comparisons of the two techniques. Subjects were asked to choose a number between three and eight and reply “no” when asked about the different numbers, making one answer a lie. The fMRI was 24 percent more accurate than polygraph in detecting the lie, though neither method was perfect.

In the real world, of course, there are situations in which parts of a statement may be true and other parts false. Despite the claims of companies trying to advance commercial products for use in court, brain scans are not yet ready for prime time.

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One Month After: 'Fear of Trump' Is Making Some Youth Physically Sick

One month after Trump's 'election,' many adults anecdotally and many children, documented, express more fear and anxiety about Donald Trump. In this excerpt from an article published by Common Dreams, we look at 'fear of Trump.'

To find more detailed information about fear, our most powerful emotion, get our book, Healing the Brain.

After a campaign built on xenophobic remarks, a pledge to construct a massive wall across the southern border, and promises to form "a deportation force" to rid the nation of millions of undocumented immigrants, it's not surprising the psychological impact of Donald Trump's rhetoric would be most sharply felt among those living within those communities.

"People worry their families will be broken up, that parents will be deported and children will end up in foster care, on a scale that we’ve never seen before. The feeling out there is one of great fear." —Marielena Hincapié, National Immigration Law Center

And now, with the reality setting in that Trump will soon by the President of the United States, the Guardian reports Friday how pediatricians serving in communities with large populations of undocumented immigrants are seeing a spike in anxiety-related physical illnesses, most notably among children expressing worry that they, their parents, or other loved ones will soon be arrested or deported.

As the Guardian's Andrew Gumbel reports:

One little boy in North Carolina has been suffering crippling stomach aches in class because he’s afraid he might return home to find his parents gone. In California, many families are reporting that their children are leaving school in tears because their classmates have told them they are going to be thrown out of the country.
Children are showing up in emergency rooms alone because their parents are afraid of being picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they show their faces. Even American-born children are suffering – one boy in the south-east asked a doctor for Prozac because he was worried about his undocumented friend.

"It’s as though a volcano erupted. It’s been awful," said Mimi Lind, director of behavioral health at the Venice Family Clinic, one of the largest providers of healthcare to low-income families in southern California. "People who don’t have a history of anxiety and depression are coming forward with symptoms they’ve never had before. And people who had those symptoms already are getting much worse."

It’s too soon to put precise figures on the wave of Trump-related anxiety, but health professionals and immigrant rights groups say it is unmistakable. "People worry their families will be broken up, that parents will be deported and children will end up in foster care, on a scale that we’ve never seen before. The feeling out there is one of great fear," said Marielena Hincapié of the National Immigration Law Center.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ANXIETY AND FEAR IN OUR NEW BOOK.