EU supporters still in shock over vote amid Brexit blues
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SADNESS, insomnia, frustration and confusion: the Brexit blues have gripped many European Union supporters since Britain’s shock decision to leave the bloc last week.
“I would say I am currently suffering from anxiety and/or depression,” EU backer Mick Watson, 41, said. “I hadn’t felt anything like this before Friday’s referendum result. I am worried, very worried.
“I am constantly online, my work and home life has suffered. I feel like my way of life is threatened and that’s scary,” added the University of Edinburgh researcher.
The seismic vote has forced Britain to recognize the deep divisions within its society, a profound realization that heralds a turbulent and uncertain future.
Around 17.4 million people voted to leave the EU, while 16.1 million voted to stay, leaving huge numbers fearful of life outside the bloc.
“Our reactions are multiple. The first is shock and a sense of betrayal felt by Remain voters, many of whom feel that they no longer recognize the UK they live in,” explained Jay Watts, of Queen Mary University of London. “It has shattered people’s sense of what British values are.”
Brexit proponents argue it is similar feelings of alienation and powerlessness — ignored for decades — that saw so many working class communities voting to leave the EU, and resent the blame cast upon them.
“Many Leave voters feel at times angry that they are being rubbished as ill-informed and racist,” she said. “The main emotion for everyone is uncertainty.”
Remain supporters have compared the trauma to a relationship breakdown, or a death in the family.
“The main feeling is of irreversibility, so in that sense its worse than a divorce, and more like an avoidable death,” explained Will Davies, from Goldsmiths, University of London “It feels like a terrible accident, that should have been foreseen and should have been prevented.”
Some have turned to gallows humor to express their anxieties on social media.
“For the first time EVER I am working in my pyjamas. I think I have #brexitblues,” wrote Twitter user Lucy Mann.
“Resisted temptation to hug my Polish delivery driver and tell him I still love him. #BrexitBlues,” added Charlotte Day.
The fog of depression has also consumed immigrants, crippled by doubts about their adopted country, whose arms suddenly do not appear to be as open. “I swing between depression, anger, sadness, worry and hope,” Aurore Valantin, a 37-year-old French blogger based in Worthing on England’s south coast, wrote on her blog “Croqlife.”
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