Improved race relations and short-term relief from soaring stress levels are among the likely aftereffects of Barack Obama's victory Tuesday night, say experts in mental health and race relations.
The election was emotion-filled for both sides and came at a time of great anxiety, says Richard Chaifetz, CEO of ComPsych, the largest U.S. employee assistance mental health provider. Requests for counseling surged 40% in the past six months, he says.
"Now that people know we're going to have a change, it will give them hope and ease fears for a while," he predicts. But the rosy glow could fade within several weeks, Chaifetz says, as people see that the financial meltdown --source of so much worry -- isn't ending soon.
And it's not just money Americans have lost. They need to recover from what many view as a betrayal of trust by financial and political leaders, says Linda Stroh, an organizational psychologist and author of Trust Rules: How to Tell the Good Guys From the Bad Guys in Work and Life. "This breakdown in trust generates a huge amount of stress," Stroh says. If political leaders act quickly and calmly to restore trust, that would improve mental health even if the economy lags, she says.
Many young Americans got a huge morale boost from the Obama victory, says Ellen Thompson, 27, of Cheyenne, Wyo. With younger voters going to the polls in such high numbers and a clear majority voting for Obama, "it has made young people feel quite empowered," she says. "Most of my friends did something in the campaign because they thought they could make a difference, and then they did."
Of course, not everyone is thrilled with the outcome. Rick Mende, an executive at a sock manufacturing firm, says he felt "nausea" after the election. He fears higher taxes will discourage those who create wealth from continuing to do so. "Personal initiative and responsibility will be in shorter and shorter supply," says Mende, 56, of Lewisville, N.C.
He says he also fears the global fallout from an Obama presidency: "I don't think he has the savvy or the guts to stand up to Iran or the Muslim fundamentalists."
Nobody was more surprised by the election result than Brian Ray, 49, of Chicago, who is black. "It just didn't seem feasible. ... So many whites weren't as prejudiced as we thought," Ray says.
A black president will give people a more positive view of the race, he says.
That doesn't mean racism is over, adds John Dovidio, a Yale University psychologist who has studied unconscious racism for three decades. "Daily racism on the street is not going to disappear just because of the election."
Younger people, though, are more likely than their elders to ease up on prejudice after getting to know people of other races, he says. "This election will have long-term benefits in race relations."
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