Double amputee veteran congressman slams media for ‘Post-election stress disorder’ term

A US Congressman and disabled combat veteran is calling out media outlets for pushing the term “Post-Election Stress Disorder,” citing that the supposed affliction is incomparable to the effects experienced by combat veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Since the election and subsequent inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, the term Post-Election Stress Disorder (PESD) has been coined -and gleefully run with by the media- to describe individuals who feel anxiety, fear and other psychosomatic symptoms due to the results of the election.

While partisan healthcare workers and even major news outlets have run with the term, one newly-elected US Congressman is speaking out against the term, insinuating that PEST cheapens and does disservice to those who are actually suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, namely veterans who witnessed major conflict.

“There’s a big difference between being pissed off about things and what happens on the battlefield,” said Florida Congressman Brian Mast, a former EOD technician who lost both his legs and a finger when he triggered an IED pressure plate while serving in Afghanistan in 2010.

“I have empathy for the stress that’s in people’s lives as a result of this election,” he added during his interview on Fox & Friends Tuesday. “But that doesn’t mean that there’s any real comparison to service members who have been targeted by snipers, that have been blown up, that have had to take the lives of their enemies,that have had their uniforms stained by the blood of their friends or have had to bury friends, year after year…there’s not a comparison between the two in my opinion.”

Still, some would disagree with Mast- and have told their therapists all about it.

“In my 28 years in practice, I’ve never seen anything like this level of stress,” said Nancy Molitor, a psychologist in Chicago. “What we’re seeing now after the inauguration is a huge uptick in anxiety. I have people who’ve told me they’re in mourning, that they’ve lost their libido. I have people saying the anxiety is causing them to be so distracted that they’re blowing stop signs or getting into fender benders.”

As personal and political tensions between Americans continue to rise, whether or not PESD becomes a real disorder is anybody’s guess.

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