Okay. The 2008 Presidential Elections are finally over and as everybody knows, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois swept the electoral vote to become the first Black president in American history. So all those rumors about him being born outside the United States and such… were obviously, not true! The United States Constitution would not allow that. But what happened to all of us during the primaries, Super Tuesday, the debates, and Saturday Night Live’s mock-ups of Sarah Palin? Could we all have been suffering from a mental condition of “election addiction” the whole time without knowing it? Psychologists and doctors all around America suggest that this could be true! In fact, Newsweek magazine has outlined some of the symptoms of election addiction, the cause of it, and how the condition is of importance to this election year, in particular.

Election addiction is defined as a mental condition in which one person cannot go through an entire day without looking, at least once, online, on the news, or on television, for the latest political headlines. The assumed cause of this mental condition is any impending presidential election in which there is great patriotism, anticipation, or support for one particular candidate within the political world. Statistically, it has been said that approximately 61 percent of all Americans “catch” this condition every election season. But why is this considered such a vital importance to this election year? Well, in the grand scheme of things, more people suffered the addiction this election year than any other year since 1988. However, now that this election is over, that sixty-one percent of Americans could be feeling some withdrawals.

If you are feeling withdrawals, symptoms may vary depending on the particular presidential candidate whom you supported. If you were an Obama supporter, you may feel adventurous, audacious, and accomplished; but at the same time, bored from no longer updating yourself on current news. On the other hand, if you were a McCain supporter, your symptoms may differ significantly from an Obama supporter. You may feel like an outsider, walking aimlessly on a bridge to nowhere. You may also feel scared that Obama will “spread the wealth,” or somehow hook up with Bill Ayers to rebel against the United States. However as my diagnosis, believe me, McCain supporters have nothing to worry about.

Although, no matter what your political affiliation was with either presidential candidate, we cannot doubt that as a human population, we did suffer from an unparalleled strain of election addiction this election season. And even though it will be a while until the next election, we can all prepare ourselves for another psychological chaos in 2012, between our maverick from Alaska and Uncle Sam’s newly-named socialist from Illinois.