Post-Campaign Stress for Sarah Palin
In a local Alaskan paper today the heading is Back at work, Palin vents a bit over campaign criticism. In the post-campaign analyses, there is little doubt that Sarah Palin will command attention for some time. This will add to her personal stress.
November 4 Election Day was a big day for Sarah Palin and just before this time I wrote an article about how she would handle stress if she became Vice-President. I reported on the research of Cary Cooper on stress management and politicians. Within six months politicians were reporting elevated levels of stress.
Stress symptoms included loss of confidence, sleeping problems, drinking and eating too much, feeling constantly under strain and showing increasing lack of motivation.
As we all know, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are president elect and VP elect. So Sarah doesn’t have to cope with national level stress. However she does have to deal with her gubernatorial pressures returning as governor of Alaska. It must be a difficult task to adapt to the small state issues after such a heady campaign.
Sarah impressed many people with her energy and enthusiasm as a campaigner. Part of her role was to be a critic of the Democrats, a role that might create additional stress for her in trying to win back a non-partisan form of government in Alaska.
She has to confront many unresolved issues in Alaska on her return. Today’s newspaper highlights the different legal interpretations of the Troopergate issue. Other issues raised in her campaign absence, for example, ethics issues, private websites, her husband’s role in government, and travel expenses for her children will be explored in the media.
It was inevitable that Sarah Palin would attract significant post-campaign criticism. She has had to defend the comments of unknown staffers that she didn’t know Africa was a continent. She rejected the notion that she went on a crazy spending spree on Republican money. She’ll have to defend many such criticisms in the weeks ahead.
It will be interesting to see who tries to scapegoat Sarah Palin in the weeks to come. There has to be continuing interest in her because of the constant calls for Sarah as president in 2012. A strong sense of purpose and clear values, together with obvious family support, will be her best defense against critical onslaughts. She is going to need a great deal of assistance to manage and reduce the inevitable stress on her return to Alaska.
Tags: anxiety, dr jeff, how to reduce stress, how to relieve stress, manage stress, managing stress, Mental Health, PTSD and stress, social support, Stress, stress levels, Stress Management, stress relief, stress symptoms, stress test, stressed out, stressors
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
