"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right": Politics and psychotherapy, 2018

The election and postelection policies of Donald Trump have seeped into the psychotherapy sessions of many clients, in ways that are somewhat unique but also somewhat reminiscent of the ways that other dramatic social-political events, including 9/11 and the social divisions that were characteristic of the 1960s, were brought into the treatment room. The nine articles within this issueseven papers from practicing psychotherapists, one from an executive coach, and one empirical papersuggest strongly that the political events surrounding the election of 2016 have become a significant part of psychotherapeutic discourse for many clients, that many therapists have been willing participants in such discussions, and that a focus on political issues (broadly speaking) can have important clinical benefits, facilitating the therapeutic alliance and leading to greater understanding of long-standing client problems and interpersonal functioning. Taken together, these papers lead to the conclusion that, at a minimum, clinicians need to be sensitive to the very real possibility that their clients are acutely aware of and affected by the political events surrounding the 2016 presidential election and may welcome open discussion of these events and their consequences.