The Taipei Times reports that election stress is being researched. The number of depression and anxiety patients in Taiwan jumped by ten percent around the time of the election.

Taiwanese stressed out by the aftermath of the presidential election are becoming the subject of academic study, with professors and analysts using psychological and evolutionary theory to explain "post-election stress syndrome."

The catch-phrase is interesting, but not really needed. The election itself is rather historic and given all the media hullabaloo, additional stress patients is to be expected. During the protests, we saw an old man try to climb onto the KMT truck wielding a very large knife, hoping, in his blind desperation and fear and rage to exact some revenge upon party members who failed him and other faithful in losing the election. The cries that the election was unfair with no evidence of wrong-doing did not help the situation. Of course, many folks became exasperated.

The syndrome refers to physical disorders, anxiety and depression caused by worry and stress in those concerned about the post-election crisis. Andrew Cheng (鄭泰安), a research member from the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, said that the syndrome should be seen as an adjustment disorder, a medical term for mental distress caused by a disruption in one’s view of reality.

Some of my evening students began looking at possibilities of emmigrating as they feel that social order has somehow collapsed. This is the second presidential election in a row in which the KMT lost the election and its long-time members have felt betrayed. In the first, Chen Shui-Bian did not win a majority, he merely had more votes than the other two candidates. Had Lien and Soong not split at that point, the KMT could have easily won. This time around, Lien and Soong combined efforts but still lost. The really significant point is how many more people switched their votes to Chen, albeit he still does not have a strong mandate from the people. With the immediate cries of foul regarding vote counts – never proven and now the argument has been significantly dropped, despite the vote recount – and the allegations that the assassination attempt was staged (also without evidence), of course many folks feel stress.

We should also take into account that the SARS scare has not been forgotten. Stress, anxiety, and panic disorders are on the rise simply because of that alone. Coupled with the election crisis, it is not shocking that stress syndromes are on the rise.

"The murky election results were a blow to many people’s `cherished ideas,’ or concept of the way things should be. Depending on one’s personality, one might have an extreme reaction to such a blow and experience a loss in their sense of security or feel like they’ve lost their life purpose," Cheng said.

Cheng is here using a loaded term. It is not that the election results were murky. It is that the KMT and media reported the results as murky, creating an image of societal collapse and betrayal.

Cheng said that people who may have trouble adjusting were those who felt the election results would have a major impact on their future. Such people, he said, were likely to identify themselves as being either a staunch pro-blue or pro-green supporter.

Those with strong affiliation or identification with party politics have been the most affected.

Of course, the numbers being reported are based upon actual cases from hospitals. Since most people suffering from stress in Taiwan do not seek help, the actual numbers are probably much higher.

For some stress reduction recordings, go here and here. Please be kind to my server and download the files for playback, do NOT play them streaming from the site. My server sucks so if you get an error message, that means there are too many folks trying at one time so come back later and try again. These free MP3s are in English so not of as much use to Chinese listeners who should check out some of the good folks listed here.