I don’t know what they’re so depressed about. With Nancy Pelosi back in charge, surely they’re only two years away from a new House majority.

A staffer for a congressional Democrat who came up short on Tuesday reports that a team of about five people stopped by their offices this morning to talk about payroll, benefits, writing a résumé, and so forth, with staffers who are now job hunting.

But one of the staffers was described as a “counselor” to help with the emotional aspect of the loss — and a section in the packet each staffer was given dealt with the stages of grief (for instance, Stage One being anger, and so on).

“It was like it was about death,” the staffer said. “It was bizarre.” The staffer did say the portions about the benefits and résumé writing were instructive.

Stage One isn’t anger, it’s denial. Anger is Stage Two. Which makes me think that maybe this is actually a covert way of trying to torpedo Pelosi’s bid for minority leader. (Her office says she wasn’t the one who sent the counselors.) The only conceivable psychological explanation for why House liberals would want to retain her is that they’re stuck in Stage One; if the counselors can move them to Stage Two, then, just possibly, the healing can begin. We’ll know they’re on the track to “wellness” when they dump her and we start seeing more enraged rants about the “white right” and their “temper tantrum” online.

Exit question: What’s next, grief counselors for stressed-out mafia bosses? Oops!

Update: Going to be a long, long time before they’re off Stage One:

Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the United States House of Representatives requests the pleasure of your company at a reception honoring the Accomplishments of the 111th Congress on Wednesday, the tenth day of November, two thousand ten at three thirty in the afternoon Cannon Caucus Room 345 Cannon House Office Building