| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
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| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
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| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
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| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
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| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
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| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
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| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
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| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
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Get ready, Utahns, for post-Oly letdown
End of the party will bring relief, sadness
By Norma Wagner
Deseret News staff writer
If you've been feeling a bit distracted at work with all the Olympic celebrations, parties and events, not to mention the constant barrage of media coverage locally and nationally, you are not alone.
"What I'm finding around here is not a lot of stimulation overload but definitely an inability to concentrate because there's so many more things going on," said Kari Ellingson, assistant vice president of students at the University of Utah, the center of the Olympics. "It's resulted in a sense of disconnection from reality, a lack of routine. You feel like you're on vacation all the time."
But with all of life's highs come the lows. So a Westminster College professor suggests Utahns get ready mentally because the party is almost over.
"The high will be gone," said Paul Presson, assistant professor of psychology.
"There will be a natural, post-Olympic letdown of the city. The pendulum effect will swing . . . but eventually, things will return back to normal."
He said simply recognizing the obvious — that's there's no possible way to prevent it — will make the mass exodus less stressful. Presson pointed out that the biggest stressers in people's lives result from unexpected events — the death of a loved one, divorce, Sept. 11 — vs. planned pressures such as preparing for a wedding.
"You can prepare for the pending (lull) by finding something else to do in place of all the events and activities," he said.
The end of the Games this weekend, however, will probably come as a relief to a contingent of Salt Lake Valley residents whose lives already were unstable — those with chronic mental illnesses.
Valley Mental Health's crisis lines have received about 10 more calls per day in the past two weeks. The biggest problems callers say they are facing are frustrations from the disruptions in service by buses and the rail system which many of them use daily — and sometimes being unable to avoid the big crowds downtown, said Ted Wander, medical director for adult services at Valley Mental Health.
There is one more contingent of Utahns who undoubtedly will rejoice once the Games end — downtown shop owners and restaurants whose businesses have suffered due to blocked lanes and patrons who have avoided Salt Lake City's hub because of the crowds.
"We're already seeing some of the letdown, especially from the merchants who thought they would see more people coming into their stores, who didn't get all the (financial) goodies they thought they were going to get," said clinical psychologist Jane Warburton, past president of the Utah Psychological Association.
Presson, the Westminster psychologist, is among those who have avoided downtown throughout the past three weeks and who is looking forward to getting back to life as usual.
"We've avoided downtown (throughout the Games), but we've also been faithful watchers of the Olympics on TV," he said. "I'm looking forward to getting out of the house and going back to school and see if I can get my semester back on track."
But he also admitted reaping some personal benefits from being self-sequestered during the Games.
"I actually got to spend a lot of time with my family, more than I usually do. That was my Olympics."
E-mail: nwagner@desnews.com
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February 22, 2002
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