Last week, the Portland City Council took a vote, with inadequate transparency to invite timely public comment, to divest from companies that do business in Israel, protesting the war in Gaza and the Middle East. This vote was taken despite the fact that Portland has zero investments in any of these companies. Rather, Portland spends the money it collects from its taxpayers and the state of Maine. This was purely a symbolic vote.

All of a sudden, several of my long-term patients reported new onset panic attacks.

These patients shared some common elements: 80% were Jewish, 20% were not. Most lived in Portland. Three patients actually said to me, with one having a full-blown panic attack in my office – hyperventilation and then vomiting, despite having been rock-solid stable for over 10 years – the exact same thing: “When are they coming for me?” As a practicing psychiatrist and Mainer, this would have struck me as delusional and paranoid – were it not for the vote of the Portland City Council.

Oh, and it didn’t stop there.

My email and voicemail were filled with messages from concerned Jewish people from all over. One physician from another state had been planning a conference in our wonderful city. The call from her over the weekend was pretty devastating: “Because of the vote last week, we have decided to hold our conference somewhere else.” The “somewhere else” will not benefit Mainers or residents of Portland. It will not benefit our businesses, our shops, restaurants and venues.

The Press Herald has published letters and editorials that describe this sentiment and its results upon travel and the perception of the city of Portland. This psychiatrist has experienced – through my patients, colleagues, friends, family and media – the fear that the Portland City Council needlessly incited by its symbolic vote last week. When people and groups experience fear, they avoid and become enraged at the perceived attacking entity. This is exactly what seems to have happened here. Portland City Council has created a polarized situation where Jewish people now feel great fear and panic, literally in the clinical sense. The council has made it so both individuals and groups will be avoiding Portland and instead taking their business and money elsewhere.

There is another dynamic I have become aware of. This one makes sense and is completely rational. Many members of the Jewish community have been wonderfully supportive of the groups and businesses that do business in Portland. Some of the Portland City Council members work for various nonprofits, some as executive directors. With the holiday season fast approaching, the boards of these organizations ought to anticipate the effects of the loss of charitable giving that will probably arise as a result of this fiscally pointless vote. The business community, including the Chamber of Commerce, has expressed its clear dissatisfaction with the council’s vote. Many members of the business community have in the past supported those same nonprofits that have come to take their donors for granted. Many of the people who have spoken with me have shared they will simply not be donating to causes led by City Council members. While perhaps this sounds threatening, it simply reflects the panic and resulting anger felt by some members of the Jewish community and its many friends.

This situation is a stark reminder that if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. None of us should be surprised if the Jewish community and its many friends works to ensure there’s a member at the table, next dinner, as their logical fears turn next to action.