#see I really am in grad school

[istra-ish-sucha-geek]

My Discussion Post for Practicum November 9

This topic is acutely apropos, even though this article was written before the precipitating even 8 years ago of the first election of Donald Trump. In the intervening eight years, political division has continued to rise, natural disasters are increasing, and the tools in this article are of even greater necessity. The primary conclusion of this article is that yes, therapists should speak to their clients regarding world politics and news. The article offered several was to broach the subject with clients: posting a letter publicly in the office, asking client's in session, and sending an email inviting conversation to clients. Recent online discourse has been revolving around if it is appropriate to ask your therapist how they voted during the election. This conversation is being picked up by therapists and clients. Clients, especially LGBTQIA+ and women clients are expressing that therapists who don't answer or who answer "Trump," are therapists they no longer feel safe with. Some therapists are arguing that revealing who you voted for is too much self-disclosure; others are saying this should not be a problem to disclose; others are vehement that not only should you disclose, it should be obvious who you voted for. This current discourse complicates some of the suggestions from the article, as an invitation to speak about things could be seen as an invitation to ask who you voted for, which is generally considered private information. However, withholding information could also clearly damage rapport.

In my own practice this week, I have had some clients with the current election on their minds, and some who did not care. The clients who were experiencing distress did not ask me how I voted, however, it was clear from their attitude they were certain of who I had voted for, and there was no need to ask.

Guidelines for political discussion were also helpful. The focus should be on how clients were impacted emotionally and socially by politics or world conditions. When clients "rabbit trail" down a rant, a counselor should redirect them back to how they are personally being impacted. Finally, it is recommend that when appropriate, the therapist share in their own human grief about world (or local) events,  and "join as a fellow human" in the emotional response to tragedy.

Civic engagement is a way clients can feel centered and empowered in the midst of political unrest and tragedy. It is a way to ground oneself and not be rattled by ongoing events. Loneliness can be a significant contributor to stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms. Being connected to other people in civic movements, protests, and activism, is a way to minimize fear and embrace the power a human does have (Hunter, 2024). That connection can also lead to community with resources to ride out political upheaval or natural disasters. Connection is vital for human survival, both as an individual and as a communal creature. Additionally, civic engagement and communal connection can give help humans envision a hopeful future. Hope is a necessary weapon for the human psyche against darkness and trying times.

While Buczynski had excellent points for the time of the article, there has been significant shifts in the ensuing 8 years. Globally, and nationally, we have experienced a pandemic the likes of which had not been seen for 100 years (the 1918 Spanish Flu),  a contentious election in 2020 with a violence breaking at the White House on January 6, several natural disasters that broke previous records of destruction, and a continuing political divide of extremism and rhetoric while political powers wrestle back and forth. It is difficult to research events as they unfold; hindsight is 2020, and 2020 is barely four years ago. The current discussion regarding therapists, client's feelings of safety in the therapeutic relationship, and voting disclosure, would not have happened 8 years ago. The landscape of social media has dramatically changed in the last 8 years with the advent of TikTok and its direct to user interface. For several people of younger generations, social media is their primary news outlet (Pew Research Center, 2024). This has contributed to an immediacy of information dissemination through the people (including significant inaccuracies or misleading information), and access to professionals and professional spaces that was not previously available. These all impact how a client receives information, relates to information, and reacts to information. Being civically engaged can look significantly different in 2024 than it did in 2016.

This can impact how therapists apply the principles and guidelines Buczynski recommends. Many therapists have a professional, online social media account, and use that to communicate with clients. Given the 2024 Pew Research Center information, a social media post may be more effective at reaching clients than posting a letter in the office, or even an email. Additionally, due to the same social media, it is foolish to suppose clients will be ignorant and uninfluenced by the discourse on social media between clients and therapists. It is possible a client come in and demand to know who their therapist voted for, or there may be a more subtle bid for information. Social media can also give clients greater access to emotional and community support, as well as more opportunities for civic engagement. However, depending on the spaces they frequent, social media could also increase hopelessness, frustration, and burn out. While the principals of Buczynski's suggestions are still relevant, it is important to consider how to apply them in the significantly different social, political, global and online world we live in now.

:

Buczynski, R. (2016, July 15). How to Help Clients Process Their Fears about World Events - NICABM. NICABM. https://www.nicabm.com/trauma-how-to-help-clients-process-their-fears-about-world-events/ Links to an external site. 

Hunter, D. (2024, November 4). 10 ways to be prepared and grounded now that Trump has won. Waging Nonviolence: People Powered News and Analysis. https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/11/10-things-to-do-if-trump-wins/

Pew Research Center. (2024). Pew Research Center: Social Media and News Fact Sheet. United States.[Web Archive]. Retrieved from the Library of Congress: https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/social-media-and-news-fact-sheet/

[th3wizardoz]

I love love love Timber Rattlesnakes but I am so fucking bad at taking pictures of them. My thesis advisor (a man who has been studying cryptic pitvipers for YEARS) had to look at a picture I took today for nearly a minute before he found the grainy ass snake in it

[waitineedaname]

Every time I see you talk about yourself you’re always moving, what job do you have that allows you to move so much? Also you can delete this if it’s tmi, im just curious lol

oh i haven't moved since last year! i've been living in the same place for a year now lol the answer is that I'm a student! I moved last year to start grad school in another country, which was a pretty major move! but now I'm pretty settled in the same spot while i work on my thesis

[mistergrass]

hmm

[simple-and-cozy-life]

Its one of those days where I really just want to have a family and littles to look after.

[girlscience]

Why do I feel so immature compared to literally everyone I interact with. Why does everyone treat me like I am some naive baby that needs to be protected. Why does everyone act like I am incapable of putting myself out there to get things done.

[ofstoriesandstardust]

i start grad school in two weeks and i’m starting to get the feeling i have made a horrible decision

[sweetandglovelyart]

Me, too busy with grad school to participate, watching everyone else in the Kirby fandom participate in the OC tournament and art fight

[artemisiatridentata]

i got less than 1 hour of work done today (was aiming for 5-6) because I was too stressed out and frazzled from reading about/watching the ongoing genocide and also because roommate #2 came home today from their holiday travels and all day I could hear them hacking up their lungs through the wall. I texted them and asked if they minded taking a covid test, and they said they'd taken multiple over the past 24 hours and all were negative, but like. with the amount of false negatives on the rapid tests these days, even when people are symptomatic, that does NOT reassure me!! I've been holed up in my room with a flannel stuffed in the door crack, air filters blasting, wearing an N95 in common areas, but jesus fucking christ this is taking all my ability to focus and leaving none left over for my job. that i need to do. because i am precariously poor. and i need to buy food so i can eat. and pay rent so that i don't freeze to death. and pay for my medical and phone and other bills. etc.

[artemismatchalatte]

Wow. Sometimes I'm very lucky and my bipolar doesn't always affect me much. But no such luck lately. I'm worried that I might have to retake my modern lit course because I was so late with many of my assignments. I've been mentally messed up more or less with a mixed mood episode since last September. I'm currently on the line of passing and not passing the class (granted there are a few ungraded assignments, including my final so it's still possible that I'm overreacting). I'm usually a good student too so it's a point of pride for me. I went from the honor roll to this all due to me fighting with an illness... :/ (It is my fault for not managing things better so I'm not looking for pity here- just talking).

I cannot imagine how horrible this disorder is for people who didn't have the option of medication (I am medicated, believe it or not). I think about that about that a lot since I study history and look into many writer's and artist's biographies in my spare time. I feel very bad for them since they basically had to live with this disorder without the fixes I have simply because I was born late enough for treatments to exist.

Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath both haunt me. Other people too. Yes, Lord Byron was extremely shocking but consider- we don't actually know what he would have been like if he could have been treated. He wouldn't have died at 36, I'm almost certain of that. I am highly aware of what this disorder has done to people before me. It doesn't make it better. But I keep looking back any way, to see that many of them did incredible things, in spite of it all.

I just keep thinking that if they could do so much without any treatment- that I should be able to function with treatment??? I know: don't compare yourself to other people but I'm desperate to know that I can be successful even with this illness. That it's not going to force me to leave school (the one thing I have been historically good at) and waste my life toiling away for nothing.

So if it seems as if I have been hitting my head against something lately, you aren't wrong. The fall is not generally my friend, pretty as the leaves are. I have not been having a good time of it but we must go on any way because what other option is there? None, I tell you.

[starbuck]

the fact that i don’t have time to fall in love right now is literally SO unfair.

[caninecowboy]

just got done for the day and i have a raging headache :/

[satari-raine]

Sometimes I wonder about starting a writing blog. It feels silly to imagine it since I don't write as much as I'd like (although having something dedicated to it might change that.) For a while now, easily over a year but probably a lot longer, it's been tempting to change my handle or just go full anonymous with what I write? I mean, I'm kind of anonymous now - I try to keep away most connections to offline stuff, as far as that goes, and I don't have a large presence anywhere - but I don't know.

Sometimes I feel trapped by my handle or any semblance of my identity being attached to what I do even though I probably shouldn't, and I don't know if I could even articulate that thought well enough at the moment. I know there's something freeing almost with a fresh start. I do it enough in video games to know it's an addictive feeling, so sometimes I wonder if I did so with my writing - if I dropped the satariraine handle, changed it up, made another blog, whatever - that maybe I could do more or feel braver, or try new things.

Not sure where I'm going with this. Just a thought.

[asinglesock]

had a stress dream that I'd been enrolled in a fifth class this semester and not known about it and that I was failing because of never attending class or turning in assignments

[zipquips]

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