--- title: 2016 Election: How Donald Trump Affects Women's Mental Health description: TIME speaks to women and therapists about the rise in women talking to therapists about election stress over Donald Trump. canonical: https://time.com/4544738/what-women-are-telling-their-therapists-about-election-stress/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-01T21:10:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:56.540Z article:section: Health og:title: 2016 Election: How Donald Trump Affects Women's Mental Health og:description: TIME speaks to women and therapists about the rise in women talking to therapists about election stress over Donald Trump. og:url: https://time.com/4544738/what-women-are-telling-their-therapists-about-election-stress/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6fe3797ab0bc3a7e/6988ab860a4a222a5a9cbca1/trump-hillary-health-anxiety.jpg?branch=production&width=900&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 900 og:image:height: 506 og:image:alt: trump-hillary-health-anxiety og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2016 Election: How Donald Trump Affects Women's Mental Health twitter:description: TIME speaks to women and therapists about the rise in women talking to therapists about election stress over Donald Trump. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6fe3797ab0bc3a7e/6988ab860a4a222a5a9cbca1/trump-hillary-health-anxiety.jpg?branch=production&width=900&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Women Are Telling their Therapists About Election Stress > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: How 2016 Turned Into a Battle of the Sexes [Watch (HLS stream): How 2016 Turned Into a Battle of the Sexes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IQPiMq6t.m3u8) (2:56)  _Published 2016-11-03. The 2016 election is a referendum on what women can be--and what men can get away with_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 1, 2016 9:10 PM UTC  Photo Illustration: Kim Bubello for TIME; Photos: Getty Images, AP by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 1, 2016 9:10 PM UTC This campaign season, news of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have been almost entirely unavoidable—and it turns out that’s true inside therapists’ offices, too. Surveys show most Americans are stressed out about the election. In late October, the American Psychological Association [released a survey](http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2016/10/presidential-election-stress.aspx) that found 52% of American adults say the 2016 election is a somewhat significant—or very significant—source of [stress](http://time.com/4063368/stress-relief-meditation/) in their lives, regardless of whether they’re Republican or Democrat. Another [recent ABC News Poll](http://time.com/4544143/abc-news-poll-election-stress/) reported that women were more likely than men to report election-related stress: 51% of women reported having stress over the election, while just 39% of men felt the same way. [ A recent Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/29/clinton-47-trump-45-in-post-abc-tracking-poll/) that Hillary Clinton has a 51-to-41 lead among female voters. And for some of them, that’s affecting what comes up on the proverbial couch. “The election is coming up every single day,” says [Joanna Ford](http://www.joannafordcounseling.com/), a licensed counselor in Denver, Colorado. “Once the [videotape of Donald Trump and Billy Bush](http://time.com/4523755/donald-trump-leaked-tape-impact/) on that bus came out, it had great impact. For women who are not feeling safe to begin with, this can trigger serious feelings of insecurity and fear.” That’s the case for Lauren Flower-Kim, a 38-year-old mom living in Brooklyn, New York: “I had a nightmare featuring Donald Trump last night,” she says. “All of a sudden the room is dark and he was looming over me. It was frightening and I think I woke up yelling.” Republican nominee Donald Trump has been criticized throughout the election for making comments that are insulting to many women. [A video released in October](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4%5Fstory.html) revealed him talking about “grabbing women by the p-ssy” and saying “you can do anything” to women when you’re famous. He also publicly called Clinton a “nasty woman” during the third debate, and has not apologized for [calling a former Miss Universe “Miss Piggy.”](http://time.com/4509243/donald-trump-miss-universe-alicia-machado-piggy-housekeeping/) He has also said that [he will sue](http://time.com/4541780/donald-trump-threatens-lawsuit-against-accusers/) the many women who have come forward with claims that Trump sexually assaulted them. “More than one client of mine has talked of physical nausea that they relate directly to current political happenings,” says Melissa Lester Olson, a psychotherapist based in Atlanta, Georgia. “Women who I have seen for years are only now bringing up physical and sexual trauma from their past. I think this election is re-traumatizing them. Verbal and emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, rape, discrimination at home or at work—women experience these things often. There have been many reminders \[in this election\] of experiences that so many of us have had.” Tanya Bannister, director of Cognitive Therapy for Women in New York City, says many women in her practice are anxious and agitated about the election, particularly after the debates. “The focus tends to be their anxiety about a possible Donald Trump win, and the sense that that would be catastrophic for them, for their children or for the world.” She says about a quarter of the women she sees have brought up the election in a session. Monica E. Jackson, a counselor and owner of [iWin Counseling](http://www.iwincounseling.com/) based in Houston, Texas, says that some of the negativity around this campaign season has made some people feel like women’s issues—the pay gap, parental leave, reproductive rights—were taking a giant step backward. “In America, women have become trailblazers. We now have the decision of whether we want to be stay-a-home moms, CEOs or both. We have heard things in this election that demean women and negates everything we have worked so hard to _not_ be viewed as.” To combat stress and anxiety spurred by the election, all of the therapists TIME spoke to [recommended cutting back on social media, and keeping time spent mulling over the news to the minimum](http://time.com/4539024/election-stress-mental-health-anxiety/) or scheduled time of day. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4544738/what-women-are-telling-their-therapists-about-election-stress/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4544738/what-women-are-telling-their-therapists-about-election-stress/"},"headline":"What Women Are Telling their Therapists About Election Stress","datePublished":"2016-11-01T21:10:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:47:56.540Z","description":"Therapists report a spike in election anxiety","url":"https://time.com/4544738/what-women-are-telling-their-therapists-about-election-stress/","keywords":["Mental Health","Hillary Clinton","women","2016 Election","Sexual Assault","Anxiety","Stress","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6fe3797ab0bc3a7e/6988ab860a4a222a5a9cbca1/trump-hillary-health-anxiety.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6fe3797ab0bc3a7e/6988ab860a4a222a5a9cbca1/trump-hillary-health-anxiety.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"trump-hillary-health-anxiety","caption":"","creditText":"Photo Illustration: Kim Bubello for TIME; Photos: Getty Images, AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/mental-health/","name":"Mental Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4544738/what-women-are-telling-their-therapists-about-election-stress/","name":"What Women Are Telling their Therapists About Election Stress"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How 2016 Turned Into a Battle of the Sexes","description":"The 2016 election is a referendum on what women can be--and what men can get away with","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/IQPiMq6t/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-11-03T15:05:17.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IQPiMq6t.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4544738/what-women-are-telling-their-therapists-about-election-stress/","duration":"PT2M56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4544738/what-women-are-telling-their-therapists-about-election-stress/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```