Anyone else having a mental health crisis over this administration?

[Hekate]

39. My DIL says her therapist's phone started ringing at 8am Nov. 9. I went back into therapy in Dec....

It is helping a lot, believe me. I know people who are having nightmares.

I was called for Jury duty in December, and though the crime was repugnant (rape) I believed I could be objective.

But we prospective jurors were all sent home for a week, and in that time I started thinking about all the women I have known in my lifetime who have been raped, one who was only 7 at the time and told me when we were both 14. Their names went around and around in my head, and I began to feel sick to my stomach all the time. I had not thought of any of them in years. The night before we were to return I could scarcely sleep.

Back in the courtroom we went thru the usual process of stating our names, occupation, etc. We were asked if there were any reason we could not serve, and I raised my hand. Those of us who raised our hands were told we could speak to the judge privately if we wished.

When my turn came I shocked myself by blurting, not that I knew at least 4 women who had been raped, but that "I was sexually abused as a child." And that was the thought I had not been thinking all week.

I was immediately dismissed. In the days and weeks afterward I thought: "Trump," and of how many women like myself (and possibly male survivors) must have been triggered by Trump for the past year and a half. He's an abusive sonuvabitch, and he boasts about it like he's done something clever. No wonder I couldn't sit on that jury. No wonder I felt physically ill.

Unlike Trump, the young man in my local court will do 6 years on a plea bargain. It turns out he is a serial rapist, starting in high school, and raped yet another girl while out on bail. He has a string of accusers in at least 2 counties. Like Trump, he should definitely be in prison a lot longer.

But they couldn't get a jury just then. It makes me wonder.

So, there you have it. You are by no means alone in your distress.

All who may read this, please take care of yourselves. None of us can do this alone -- we have to be there for each other. Cut back on the anesthesia -- please don't hurt yourself trying to numb the pain.

Let me put it this way: Trump will not give a rat's ass who among us lives or dies, but WE WILL. So be gentle to yourselves, and don't beat yourselves up trying to do everything.

Hold on. We will live to see better days.