Technical Counseling

Tag: politics

  • When the News Feels Like a Threat: Therapy Support for Political Stress and Public Violence

    If you’ve felt more on edge lately—sleep disrupted, body tense, doomscrolling you can’t quite stop, snapping at people you love, or cycling between anger and numbness—you’re not imagining things. When the world feels unstable or dangerous, your nervous system treats it like real danger, even if you’re physically safe in your home.

    A lot of people are carrying a specific kind of strain right now: the stress of political conflict and public violence. It can look like anxiety, depression, hypervigilance, hopelessness, obsessive checking of headlines, panic, or a simmering sense of “something bad is coming.”

    Therapy can help—not by pretending none of this is happening, and not by turning sessions into a political debate—but by supporting you to stay grounded, make values-consistent decisions, and protect your wellbeing in the middle of uncertainty.

    What political stress does to the mind and body

    When the outside world feels threatening, the brain shifts into survival mode:

    – Fight: anger, argument urges, constant readiness to confront

    – Flight: compulsive planning, overworking, over-researching, doomscrolling

    – Freeze: numbness, shutdown, “I can’t do anything”

    – Fawn: people-pleasing, minimizing your own fear, trying to keep everyone calm

    None of these responses are moral failures. They’re nervous-system strategies.

    The problem is when survival mode becomes your default state. That’s when sleep, relationships, focus, and hope start to deteriorate.

    What therapy looks like when the world is the trigger

    Client-facing therapy support here is usually a mix of:

    1) Nervous system stabilization

    We work on getting you back into a zone where you can think clearly:

    – grounding skills that actually work for your brain/body

    – tolerating uncertainty without spiraling

    – reducing panic loops and intrusive imagery

    – building “recovery time” after stress spikes

    2) Emotional clarity without overwhelm

    A lot of political stress is a messy blend: fear + anger + grief + moral injury + helplessness. We sort it out so you’re not trying to metabolize all of it at once.

    3) Boundaries with information

    This is huge. Many people are being harmed less by “knowing what’s happening” and more by how they’re consuming it.

    We build a plan like:

    – specific check-in windows (not all day)

    – rules for bedtime (your brain needs a shutdown period)

    – choosing a small number of trustworthy sources

    – recognizing when “staying informed” has turned into self-harm

    4) Values-based action with chosen sacrifices aligned with your values

    A nervous system that feels powerless will often push toward extremes: total disengagement or nonstop activism without rest.

    Therapy helps you find the middle path:

    – What matters to you enough to act?

    – What actions are actually sustainable for you?

    – What “small but real” actions reduce helplessness without burning you out?

    “Should I go to a protest?” — A clinically appropriate way to talk about it

    Some clients want to attend protests. Others feel pressured, terrified, conflicted, or ashamed that they don’t want to go.

    In therapy, the goal is not to tell you what to do. The goal is to help you decide in a way that is safe, realistic, and aligned with your values.

    A simple framework:

    – Values: What value would you be expressing—community, solidarity, protection, integrity?

    – Your risks: health conditions, trauma triggers, job risk, legal risk, responsibilities to family

    – Support: who you’d go with, transportation, meet-up plan if separated

    – Exit plan: what’s your “leave now” threshold if you get overwhelmed?

    – Aftercare: how will you decompress afterward so you don’t stay stuck in activation?

    If going isn’t right for you, we look for alternatives that still honor your values—things you can do that don’t put you into danger or overwhelm.

    The stance I take as a clinician

    You can talk with me about current events and how they affect you. You can express fear, anger, grief, or confusion. You can work out what you believe and what you want to do.

    What I won’t do is recruit you into a political position or pressure you to take a particular action. That’s not therapy.

    What I will do is help you:

    – stay steady enough to think

    – protect your mental health and relationships

    – make choices you can live with

    – build a plan when the world feels out of control

    A note about me

    I’m not immune to this. I’m feeling these stresses too. And I’ve been involved in political activism for most of my life. I won’t recruit you or tell you what you “should” believe. What I will do is bring real-world understanding to the work—helping you stay regulated, assess risk honestly, and choose actions that fit your values and your safety.

    If you’re in immediate danger

    If you are in immediate danger or at risk of harming yourself or someone else, call 911. If you need immediate emotional support, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the U.S.).

    If part of what makes this complicated is that you fear your danger may involve authorities—or that contacting emergency services could increase risk for you—know that you are not alone in that concern. In many communities, there are also local community groups, mutual-aid networks, and faith communities (including churches) that do their best to help people find safety and support. If this applies to you, consider looking for trusted local community resources as well, and discuss a safety plan with someone you trust.

    Want help with this?

    If the political climate and public violence are impacting your sleep, anxiety, relationships, or sense of safety, therapy can help you get grounded and regain a sense of agency—without denial, and without burnout.

    Stephen C. Arnold, LCSW, PhD (Computer Science)

    Email: technicalcounseling@gmail.com

  • Beyond the Therapy Hour: A Social Worker’s Duty to Act (With Receipts)

    Below is an email I sent today to Oregon Governor Tina Kotek. I’m sharing it as a concrete example of what “social and political action” can look like for social workers: using our voice—clearly, lawfully, and with professional boundaries—to advocate for community safety and civil rights. This message contains no client-identifying information.

    —

    Subject: Urgent: Activate Oregon National Guard for Civilian Protection; Offer EMAC Support to Minnesota

    Governor Kotek,

    I am writing as an Oregon resident and a licensed clinical social worker in Oregon. In my clinical work, I am seeing a clear pattern: many clients are experiencing high levels of fear, stress, and destabilization in response to the violence and escalating use of force associated with supposed federal immigration enforcement. I cannot and will not share client-identifying information—but the trend is unmistakable. People are afraid that what is happening elsewhere can happen here, and they are losing faith that anyone is protecting ordinary residents. I also personally have friends and neighbors who report being assaulted by ICE agents in the course of these operations, and I have personally seen their injuries. In plain terms: what we are witnessing has gone far beyond targeted efforts to locate people who are unlawfully in the country and remove them through accountable legal process.

    Governor Kotek, the minefield has already happened. When you can count the dead and the hospitalized, this is no longer theoretical. This month in Minneapolis, federal agents have fatally shot U.S. citizens, including Renée Good (January 7, 2026) and Alex Pretti (January 24, 2026), amid widespread public dispute about what occurred and whether lethal force was necessary.

    Oregon has already seen what this looks like locally. On January 8, 2026, Portland Police reported that two people were shot and injured in Portland in an incident involving federal agents, and Portland Police stated they were not involved in that shooting. The Oregon Department of Justice opened a formal investigation the same day.

    Let me be blunt: even when an arrest might be lawful, shooting first is not what federal agents should be doing. The use of force must be necessary, proportionate, and accountable. When armed agents operate in public with unclear identification and limited transparency, and people end up shot or dead, the public is left with fear instead of trust—and fear is gasoline on an already burning situation.

    Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned that a society may have to repent not only for the actions of those who do harm, but for the “appalling silence” of those who stand by and wait. Governor, this is your time—and your responsibility—to act. If Oregon’s leadership responds with statements but not action, that inaction will be understood as acquiescence. When people are being shot during “supposed enforcement” operations, inaction functions as permission.

    I am asking you to take two concrete actions now:

    1) Activate the Oregon National Guard under state authority for civilian protection in Oregon

    Deploy the Guard with a narrowly defined mission: protect life, deter violence, and support de-escalation during periods of heightened risk—especially around large demonstrations and areas where federal operations may trigger confrontation.

    This activation must be paired with clear, public commitments:

    • Clearly identified personnel and transparent command structure. No masks. No ambiguity. Oregonians must know who is acting under Oregon authority and who is not.

    • Rules of engagement centered on protection and de-escalation—without suppressing lawful protest or observation. De-escalation first. Force only when necessary and proportionate to prevent imminent loss of life or serious bodily injury. The mission must explicitly protect the public’s right to protest, observe, and report, including recording events in public spaces.

    • Medical response capacity and automatic review. Immediate medical response on scene and automatic independent investigation of any use of force.

    • A public accountability pathway. A clear, public process for reporting misconduct and for how complaints will be investigated.

    • No cooperation in immigration enforcement. The mission is civilian protection and constitutional rights—period.

    • Real consequences for unlawful force. If any armed individual—state, local, or federal—unlawfully endangers life or violates civil rights in Oregon, Oregon must not look away. Direct Guard personnel to secure the scene, preserve evidence, identify involved personnel, and coordinate immediately with Oregon State Police and the Oregon Department of Justice so that arrest, detention, and prosecution occur through lawful process. No one operating in Oregon should be beyond accountability.

    2) Offer Oregon National Guard support to Minnesota for civilian protection

    Formally offer Oregon’s assistance to Minnesota—including National Guard resources—through lawful mutual-aid channels such as EMAC (Emergency Management Assistance Compact) so support can move quickly if Governor Tim Walz requests it. Oregon’s offered mission should be clearly defined: civilian protection, medical support, logistics, and de-escalation—not immigration enforcement.

    Governor, people in Oregon are watching civilians get shot—here and elsewhere—and they are asking whether their state government will act before the next body hits the ground. Please respond publicly with: (a) whether you will activate the Guard for civilian protection in Oregon, (b) what the mission, rules of engagement, and accountability structure will be, and (c) whether you will offer Guard assistance to Minnesota immediately through lawful channels. As an Oregonian, I will remember how you respond in this moment, and I will share that response widely with my community.

    Respectfully,

    Stephen C. Arnold, LCSW

    technicalcounseling@gmail.com

    —

    That letter is one example of what it means to act as a social worker outside the therapy hour: not by coercing clients or collapsing boundaries, but by using our professional voice to advocate for safety, dignity, and accountability. Here’s why the NASW Code of Ethics supports this—and why silence is not neutral.