Liberal voters psychologically disturbed by the election of Donald Trump are seeking out care from mental health professionals, while colleges across the country seek to help students facing similar mental health crises in the wake of Trump's surprise victory, according to interviews and reports.
Mental health professionals practicing in Washington, D.C. described an unprecedented increase in patients worried about the country's future as a result of Trump's victory over Democratic contender Hillary Clinton.
"This is very different," said David Sternberg, founder and director of D.C. Talk Therapy, a psychotherapy group that practices in the District's upscale Woodley Park neighborhood.
"This is pretty unprecedented," Sternberg said, explaining that patients are expressing feelings of "anger, frustration, anxiety, [and] sadness."
"A lot of current patients and clients have wanted to talk about the election," he said, adding that moods are "the reverse" of what many patients felt in 2008 after the election of Barack Obama.
The election-season issues are also being felt on college campuses across the country, as many higher learning institutions offer mental health resources to students stunned by Trump's victory.
George Mason University, located in the Virginia suburbs just outside of D.C., established a "healing space" on campus the day after Trump was declared the winner, according to campus-wide communications obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The university also posted "staff members" to a post-election event to "to provide support and refer students to campus resources, as needed," according to a separate email sent to university students and faculty.
Many other prominent universities and colleges provided students with mental health resources and so-called "safe spaces" for healing.
One prominent Democratic operative informed the Free Beacon that many in D.C.'s elite political ranks have been traumatized by the election result, with some even forming support groups.
"For these people, they really are shocked," said the source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. "It's really a problem for them."
These Democratic support groups aim to "to create a safe space" where participants can "express their feelings to each other," explained the source, who recalled dejected Democratic players breaking "out into tears" during last Tuesday's election.
"Prime real estate was already booked at some of the most in-demand spots in Washington," the source added. "I'm sure there are a few people who got ball gowns and had to send them back."
"Going into Tuesday night, we had all carefully planned out victory parties to celebrate," said the Democratic operative. "But late into the evening, it became more of a wake then a party. Every time I hear the phrase President-elect Trump I can't believe it. I feel like I'm living in an alternate universe. The dream I was expecting of welcoming President Hillary Clinton has become the nightmare of President Donald Trump."
Surprise, outrage, and anguish also have gripped Jewish communities across the country, which overwhelmingly supported Clinton.
One Jewish-majority organization, We've Seen This Before, started a petition to support minority groups that are purportedly "threatened by the president-elect and his administration."
"American Jews are a multiracial and multiethnic community, and 76 percent of us voted against Donald Trump," the group wrote in an open letter posted online. "We voted against him because we know all too well the dangers of fascistic regimes that rise to power through stigmatization and scapegoating of vulnerable minority populations. And we felt—in our bodies and in our bones—that Trump was presenting a vision of the country completely at odds with our Jewish and American values."