Suffering from any of these symptoms since the election?

• “Recurrent, involuntary, and intrusive distressing memories?”
• “Avoidance of  . . . distressing memories, thoughts, or feelings?”
• “Persistent negative emotional state (e.g., fear, horror, anger, guilt, or shame)?”
• “Sleep disturbance?”
• (click here for source)

You are not alone.

These are just some of the symptoms of PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Now I am not a psychologist, so I cannot diagnose, nor can I treat . . . I have clients, not patients.  But this is what I have observed as a coach since the election: Many people seem to be experiencing some or many of the symptoms of PTSD, including me, whether or not we are diagnosed as such by a trained professional.

The good news?

The famous psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl reminds us that an abnormal reaction to an abnormal event is normal.  So everyone should take a deep breath who supported someone other than Donald Trump, because guess what?

What you are experiencing then is normal.

Hi my name is Scott, and I am experiencing Pre-Trump (as President of the USA) Stress Disorder, a political (and “coachy”) version of the clinical variety of PTSD.

The logical question then . . . What do I and we do now?

One option: We can remain frightened and/or angry, railing against a country going to hell in a hand basket, abrogating our responsibility for its perceived demise, all the while remaining holier than thou in our contempt of “other” people.

A second option: We can constructively act by committing or recommitting ourselves to a life of active civic engagement.

Frankl is also the the father of logotherapy (logos is the Greek word for “meaning”), his professional response to the horrors he witnessed in the concentration camps.  He implores us to search for meaning in all past events and then use that knowledge to craft a purposeful life, a life worth living.

To be sure, the search for long-term meaningful action may take many, many years, with tons of false starts and failed experiments (do not get me started on my failed experiments!).  We may even give up from time to time and even flirt with bizarro behaviors rooted in pure escapism.

If we 1) are self-aware, 2) reach out to our allies, and 3) get a bit lucky, a traumatic episode has the potential to become the purpose-revealing event that has alluded us all along.  Sadly though, many of us never even start the “purpose journey”, much less arrive at our “purpose destination”, because it is easier to keep blaming other people for why our lives did not turn out the way we had hoped.

Or worse, we blame ourselves for every mistake and misstep we made in the past, psychologically imprisoning ourselves and our loved ones who care and root for us.

Self-flagellation is a communal affliction that prevents our search for meaning.

Searching for a purposeful response?  Try one of these . . .

• Helping a family member or friend process their own post-election feelings.  This shifts the focus away from you, and nothing connects us better to others, and assuages our own pain, than practicing empathy.  Sadness and depression, ironically, can be incredibly selfish enterprises.  In spite of your sadness, ask others about theirs, and heal together.

• Volunteering at an organization that you feel may be under increased pressure in the years ahead.  Volunteering is always better than giving money if the goal is to help you create growth from trauma.  Donating is not nearly as communal as working with others for a common cause.

• Still too soon?  Well it has been about a month, so let’s dig a bit deeper. If the severity of the pain you feel now is equivalent to the pain you felt on November 9th, it may be time to contact a great therapist.  I know a few, and would be happy to connect you with these people, so reach out to me.  If it helps about ten years ago I experienced the clinical PTSD, and I can assure you it is not caused by a lack of “grit”, “toughness” or “manliness”.  It is a temporary disorder that need not become permanent.  Some of our greatest leaders likely experienced it first before becoming an exceptional version of themselves . . . Eleanor Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln come to mind.

PTSD, whether the clinical or my political version, can only be transformed into post-traumatic growth if we choose to find meaning in all of this and then (and this is the hardest part) act virtuously, in partnership with people of goodwill, in pursuit of living “the purpose” we uncover.

Where can you uncover greater meaning and purpose in your life this week?   How can you then act upon it?