Barack Obama’s historic election as president caps an unprecedented campaign that broke through racial and socioeconomic barriers and has changed America forever.  His victory will fuel the self-esteem and hopes of many millions — not only minorities, but all those who yearn for the kind of interconnectedness that can only be achieved when each of us is judged for his or her inherent potential, not prejudged by prejudice of any kind. 
Obama’s victory also comes at a time when truth and reality are under assault on many fronts.  Americans are suffering the fallout of economic fictions that took hold of the mortgage and banking and financial management industries, much as they once distorted the valuations of Internet companies.  The Internet itself and other technologies—like instant messaging—are cleaving us from the human nuances of face-to-face and even voice-to-voice communication.  We are using prescribed medications at ever-increasing rates to quiet our unwieldy anxiety and mood swings and insomnia and distractibility.  Illicit drug use is up, transporting increasing numbers of young people away from the facts of their lives, toward illusion.  We are trading off insight for more and more potent doses of entertainment—obsessively tracking the chaotic (and often staged) lives of celebrities—rather than dealing with the real complications of our own lives.  And we are editing our life stories into made-for-the-Web “profiles” that require that we become editors and broadcasters of who we are. 

Many times over the past two years, I worried that the presidential election, too, had been captured by a desire to escape our pressing realities and entertain ourselves.  The protracted length of the campaign, the vast amounts of money spent on advertising and even the convergence on the world stage of high drama candidates—including (but not limited to) a former president’s wife (and U.S. Senator), a black man born to parents from Kansas and Kenya and a little-known, plainspoken female governor from Alaska—made the election feel like the kind of battle a television producer or screenwriter would contrive. 

Barack Obama’s eloquence moved people—for real.  But his good looks and youth and facility with language also created a kind of dream state of devotion in listeners, the way a movie star can.  He captivated a large percentage of American voters not only with his ideas, but with his delivery of those ideas.  The message and the messenger and the media through which both flowed became one very potent force. 

It is unfortunate that Sarah Palin looks so much like Tina Fey, if only because that contributed to the entertainment value of the election.  It is unfortunate that Barack Obama had nearly unlimited funds to script his message and ended with a closing volley of 30-minute television portraits that some criticized as “infomercials.”  It is unfortunate that Joe the Plumber was anointed a political force, when his moniker sounds more like one that would work for a spokesperson in an ad campaign for something to unclog your pipes.  And, going back further, it is troubling (but only as regards our confusion between fictional drama and our real lives) that Fred Thompson, a former U.S. Senator turned actor (he played a prosecutor on TV), was center stage in the Presidential race for a time.

There is indeed something about this moment in time that feels a little like watching a made-for-TV-movie or feature film of this moment.  And that sort of psychological confusion—if anything but very temporary—could spell trouble.  It does indeed invite (as vice president-elect Joe Biden noted) “tests” of character from those who question to what extent our leaders are genuine and courageous and grounded, and to what extent they are acting the part.

Dealing with Russia’s belligerence and Iran’s destabilizing agenda and the economic crisis are only some of the challenges that will move this American President from leading man, in the eyes of many, to proven international leader.  That journey is about to begin.  Success holds the promise of transporting the country and the world closer to the truth and justice and, ultimately, to greater strength and stability.  Failure could cost all of us dearly.

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatry correspondent for FOX News Channel and a New York Times bestselling author. His newest book, “Living the Truth: Transform Your Life through the Power of Insight and Honesty” has launched a new self-help movement. Check out Dr. Ablow’s website at livingthetruth.com or e-mail him at info@keithablow.com.

Recently, two Montreal psychiatrists Drs. Ian and Joel Gold, who are also brothers, revealed the clinical histories of five patients they said suffered from a new condition: “The Truman Show Delusion.” The patients believed their lives had ceased being spontaneous and were being scripted and broadcasted as reality TV shows to viewers around the world.

The name of this new condition derives from the 1998 movie starring Jim Carrey, “The Truman Show.” In the film, Carrey’s character, Truman Burbank is a happy-go-lucky guy – until he finds out his entire life is the subject of a reality TV show, his friends are actors and there are hidden cameras everywhere.

Psychiatrists have long known that psychosis can include “ideas of reference,” in which patients believe they are the subjects of intense special interest by others, including strangers. But the Gold brothers correctly noted in their patients the belief had gone global and specifically involved the notion that others knew of them because they had essentially become stars of their own TV shows.

While these patients are the extreme, I’ve noticed elements of the same breaking with reality (in favor of TV-inspired fiction) in several patients, too. For example, a young man I recently treated dismissed my concern that his grades were plummeting, his family relationships were straining and he had been arrested for driving under the influence by stating, “Yeah, but I’m kind of like that guy in that show, the one who works in the restaurant, who’s got his whole life coming down on him, but ends up making it all happen for himself, anyhow.”

I actually had to remind him that that actor was playing a role, while on the other hand, he was living a real life. I reminded him of this many times during our work together.

In these cases, there has been a ceding of the person’s own life story to the notion that it’s all a drama, all entertainment. A DUI arrest thereby becomes an episode in a story that doesn’t really touch its protagonist, because it’s all part of an act, anyhow.

Perhaps the data suggesting that self-esteem in young people is increasing, as their performance levels on aptitude tests actually decline, is also linked to this phenomenon. The scores don’t matter. Truth doesn’t matter. Perception matters. And that detachment from oneself and others increasingly feels, to some of my patients, a lot like watching a reality TV show.

This concern about the bending of reality went national in this country in an unlikely place: Presidential politics. Senator John McCain’s advertisement linking Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears (whether or not you agree with the idea) suggested that Obama is a candidate merely playing a candidate–like that Escher drawing of a disembodied hand drawing a hand, with no end to the fantasy.

McCain’s assertion that Obama is “acting,” not genuine, occurs against the backdrop of the mortgage bubble bursting and the banking crisis unfolding. That’s why his advertisement may have hit home. We Americans are learning the hard way what happens when our institutions bend reality.

One thing is for certain: A delusion cannot be maintained forever. The truth always wins.

That’s why the Gold brothers were talking about their patients, not fascinating, happy folks they had met on the street. Ultimately, the price of pretending is psychological pain. And, always, the road back to well-being is a road that ends in coping with reality and making one’s life or one’s nation everything it can truly – truthfully – be.

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatry correspondent for FOX News Channel and a New York Times bestselling author. His newest book, “Living the Truth: Transform Your Life through the Power of Insight and Honesty” has launched a new self-help movement. Check out Dr. Ablow’s website at livingthetruth.com.

Markets move not just on financial realities, but on perception.  Our hearts, not just minds, determine which stocks rise or fall, whether banks stay viable because we stay confident in them, or close because we rush to empty our accounts.

Now, more than ever, it seems the future depends on our collective optimism or collective pessimism about our standing in the world, the creativity and resourcefulness of our people, and the underlying strength of our financial institutions.

Here’s the truth:  We are in a better position than in recent memory to rely on our institutions as the delusions that created the housing bubble and propelled flawed investment banking strategies get wrung out of our system.  The pain being endured by those who turned their personal finances or business financials into fiction is sure evidence that we are headed back to solid ground.

Make no mistake:  The ground in America is still crisscrossed coast-to-coast by economic highways paved with gold.  If you read the story of this nation from its first page to the page we are now turning, you will understand that tides have surged and retreated, but our riches have only grown.  That predicts they will continue to, especially now that we are editing the fake stuff out of future chapters.

Here’s how to use psychology to recover faster.  It’s called True Confidence, and it has a self-fulfilling force of its own:

– Plan a trip, even if it’s 12 months from now. 

– Put something you don’t really need, but really want on your shopping list for Christmas — and buy it now. 

– Open a tiny stock account for your kids. 

– Start looking for a house that will make you happy; your income and prices will ultimately make your dream a reality. 

– Think about how to take your performance at work to the next level, as economic tides start to turn for the better. 

Take note of the fact that with all the criticism of America, a Democratic African-American senator and a maverick Republican former-POW senator are squaring off to lead us to better times.  We should be hopeful about that and everything it says about who we are and where we are headed.

This economy needed a detox from the intoxicants of false financials that made us euphoric.  But it is an economy that turns out to be one that self-corrects, because it is ultimately based on market forces that have real and genuine power.

If America is a stock, believe me:  People are going to buy again.  Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines. 

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatry correspondent for FOX News Channel and a New York Times bestselling author. His newest book, “Living the Truth: Transform Your Life through the Power of Insight and Honesty” has launched a new self-help movement. Check out Dr. Ablow’s website at livingthetruth.com.