Why Does Politics Feel So Overwhelming Right Now? LGBTQ Therapy NYC: Managing Political Anxiety and Information Overload

News and information about what’s happening in the U.S. and the World come at us at lightning speed these days…this information can cause us a lot of anxiety and stress if we’re not actively responding to it with a plan. LGTBQ Therapy in NYC can help.

Photo from The Now Time; uploaded from Unsplash on 2/17/2025.

As a mental health counselor specializing in anxiety and trauma therapy for LGBTQ+ individuals. My approach is deeply trauma-informed, integrating EMDR therapy to help my clients process stress, anxiety, and the ongoing impact of discrimination. If you’ve found yourself rage-scrolling late at night or feeling like your nervous system is in overdrive, you’re not alone. I feel it too. The constant influx of political news, attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, and the pressure to stay informed can feel relentless.

For many LGBTQ+ individuals, each new headline about our rights being debated or rolled back is not just another policy issue—it’s a direct challenge to our existence and safety. And beyond that, it often triggers deep-rooted fears shaped by past experiences, whether in our families, communities, or religious institutions.

This post will explore why political anxiety can feel overwhelming, how it impacts both the mind and body, and what you can do to regain a sense of stability and control and how LGBTQ Therapy in NYC can help.

The Neuroscience of Political Anxiety

This present moment feels anything but safe, certain, or stable—for many people, not just those in the LGBTQ+ community. The sheer volume of conflicting reports, biased perspectives, and competing narratives can be overwhelming in itself. The pressure to choose a side and determine who is truly telling the honest truth can add to the sense of stress and uncertainty.

So, why does politics feel so overwhelming? Because our brains are adapted to be amazing at scanning for and perceiving threats—and when those threats target our rights, safety, and community, the stress response is even stronger.

For example, when a new law is proposed that restricts LGBTQ+ rights, it’s not just a policy debate; it can feel like a direct attack on your ability to live freely. These threats, whether personal or societal, activate the brain’s alarm system, making it difficult to disengage or feel at ease.

• The brain's limbic system, which includes the amygdala, plays a crucial role in detecting threats and triggering the fight/flight response. When political threats feel personal, this system activates as though we are in immediate danger.

• Constant exposure to distressing news triggers chronic hyperarousal, keeping the nervous system in a heightened state of alert, leading to anxiety and exhaustion. Over time, this can result in physical symptoms such as muscle tension, headaches, digestive issues, disrupted sleep, and even a weakened immune system.

• Social media and 24/7 news cycles flood the brain with stress signals, making it difficult for the prefrontal cortex—the part responsible for rational thinking and emotional regulation—to engage effectively.

When politics directly affects our ability to live freely, our survival instincts kick in. This makes it hard to disengage, even when we need to for our mental health.

The Unique Burden on LGBTQ+ Individuals

Political anxiety isn’t just about the present—it’s about history.

For many LGBTQ+ individuals, every new attack on our rights isn’t just another policy debate or news story—it’s deeply personal. It’s an attack on our communities, our safety, and our right to exist freely. These moments don’t happen in isolation; they activate a long history of feeling unsafe.

That history can date back to childhood—growing up in families that didn’t affirm us, being raised in authoritarian religious systems that would have excommunicated us if they knew who we really were inside. It might include lived experiences of rejection, abuse, or being maligned simply for existing—because someone, somewhere, deemed our identities as inferior or less than.

This is why political anxiety can feel overwhelming on a visceral level. It’s not just about what’s happening now—it’s the echo of every moment you’ve been made to feel unsafe, unheard, or unseen.

That’s why therapy—especially with me—focuses on two things:

1. Helping you manage the present stress so you don’t feel overwhelmed or paralyzed.

2. Helping you heal the deeper history that makes the present feel so unbearable.

This dual approach—addressing both immediate overwhelm and deeper wounds—is what makes LGBTQ Therapy in NYC so vital right now. You don’t have to carry this alone.

Signs of Political Hyperarousal (Are You Overwhelmed?)

Sometimes we may not be fully aware that this current stress is touching the past, but our bodies are telling us.

Photo by Nubelson Fernandes; Uploaded from Unsplash on 2/17/2025

Do you recognize any of these signs? (Or do I really need to tell you that you're overwhelmed?)

• Racing thoughts, constantly checking news updates.

• Feeling “on edge” all the time—heart pounding, tense body.

• Doomscrolling late at night, struggling to focus on work.

• Feeling like you can’t look away, even though you want to.

• Intense anger and outrage, leading to burnout.

If so, you might be in a state of hyperarousal, where your nervous system is stuck in an activated, anxious state. Learning to regulate this response can help you stay engaged while maintaining your mental well-being.

Finding 'Wise Mind' and Self Energy

In times of political stress, it's easy to get caught up in reactivity—either spiraling into intense emotions (emotion mind) or shutting down and becoming overly detached (reasonable mind). So where do we want to go? In Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), wise mind is the balance between these extremes, where rational thought and emotional awareness work together. Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy similarly speaks of Self energy—a grounded, compassionate state that exists beyond fear and reactivity.

The goal is to find this place of inner clarity, where you can respond rather than react, engage rather than detach, and lead with a sense of calm confidence. This aspect of Self is always present, but stress, fear, and trauma can obscure it. The good news? There are ways to reconnect with this aspect of who you are—not just for mental health and well-being, but also for social action and activism. Oppressive and traumatizing systems seek to make a person feel small, inferior, or even invisible through their violence. When we find our whole Self, when we reconnect to our communities and feel our belonging, when we recognize our resiliency, we take the wind out of their sails. This deeper connection empowers us to stand firm, take meaningful action, and engage in advocacy from a place of grounded strength.

Here are some ways to develop or access wise mind:

• Mindfulness Practices: Engage in mindfulness meditation or breathwork to center yourself and reduce emotional reactivity.

• Self-Compassion: Remind yourself that it's okay to feel deeply, but your emotions don’t have to control your actions.

• Limit Exposure to Stressful Media: Instead of doomscrolling, follow accounts that encourage thoughtful engagement and resilience.

• Therapeutic Reflection: Journaling or therapy can help you process emotions and maintain clarity in stressful times.

• Connect to Community: Seek out spaces where you feel seen, heard, and supported—whether it’s with close friends, advocacy groups, or LGBTQ+ organizations that align with your values.

By nurturing wise mind, you can stay engaged without feeling emotionally hijacked, allowing you to take meaningful action from a place of calm and clarity.

Breaking Free from Information Overload

It’s easy to feel like we have to be plugged into the news at all times, as though staying constantly informed will give us control—or at least the illusion of it. Maybe it’s not about control at all but about trying to prepare for the worst, to emotionally brace ourselves for whatever comes next. But in reality, this creates an internal tug-of-war—one part of you wants to stay engaged, while another part is desperate for relief. This cycle keeps you trapped in a loop of stress and exhaustion. So, how do you break free?—or at least the illusion of it. Maybe it’s not about control at all but about trying to prepare for the worst, to emotionally brace ourselves for whatever comes next. But in reality, this creates an internal tug-of-war—one part of you wants to stay engaged, while another part is desperate for relief. This cycle keeps you trapped in a loop of stress and exhaustion. So, how do you break free?

• Recognize the cycle: “Doomscrolling doesn’t make me safer—it just keeps me stuck.”

• Set limits: Designate specific times for news intake (e.g., 15 minutes in the morning and evening). Personally, I’ve turned off push notifications on my devices, allowing me to decide when I engage with the news rather than being constantly bombarded with updates.

• Curate your sources: Choose reliable, non-sensationalized news.

• Social media boundaries: Unfollow accounts that fuel panic. Choose accounts that promote what's called 'wise mind'. More on that below.

• Taking action strategically: Pick one meaningful advocacy effort instead of trying to do it all.

Grounding Strategies to Manage Political Anxiety

Instead of staying in a state of overwhelm, here are some ways to regulate your nervous system:

• 5-4-3-2-1 technique: Identify five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. This practice helps anchor you in the present moment and reduce anxious thoughts.

• Progressive Muscle Relaxation: Start at your feet and work your way up, tensing each muscle group for a few seconds, then releasing. This helps discharge built-up stress and promotes a sense of relaxation.

• Mindful breathing: Practice box breathing by inhaling for four counts, holding for four, exhaling for four, and holding again for four. This controlled breathing technique signals to your nervous system that you are safe and can help bring a sense of calm.

• Physical movement: Engage in any kind of movement—whether it's a short walk, gentle stretching, or even shaking out your arms and legs—to help release pent-up energy and regulate your nervous system.

• Getting out into Nature: Simply getting out into Nature, “getting green into your eyeballs” can get you out of that limbic hijack.

I think it’s important to remember that these are techniques that help us get out of that experience of overload and limbic takeover. We can still feel our feelings of fear, outrage, and care about the world, but we’re going to be more effective when we find practices that help us step out of those moments of panic and despair. Again, to bring it back to wise mind, distress tolerance, and diffusion, we’re creating a space or some “therapeutic distance” between our Self and these really justifiable and understandable feelings, and even what they are triggering (that deeper trauma)…so it’s not so “in your face”.

How EMDR & LGBTQ Therapy in NYC Can Help

There are many practices that can help you manage political anxiety on your own—like mindfulness, grounding techniques, and setting boundaries with media. But sometimes, the weight of political stress is tied to deeper wounds, ones that require more structured support to heal. If you find yourself feeling stuck in cycles of fear, anger, or helplessness, therapy can provide the space and guidance to process these emotions in a way that leads to real emotional freedom. Here's how therapy can help:

When political anxiety is overwhelming, therapy can help in two ways:

1. Addressing immediate distress – Helping you regulate emotions, set boundaries with media, and cope with stress.

2. Healing the deeper layers – Using EMDR to process past trauma that makes the current moment feel unbearable.

Many clients come to therapy feeling like their political anxiety is a personal failure—that they should be handling it better. But the reality is, if you’re overwhelmed, it’s because this matters to you. Therapy isn’t about numbing yourself to political realities—it’s about finding ways to engage that don’t destroy your well-being.

Final Thoughts & Call to Action

You are not alone in this. Your emotions make sense, and you deserve support. Political anxiety doesn’t mean you’re weak—it means you care. But caring deeply doesn’t mean you have to live in a constant state of stress. There are ways to stay informed and engaged while protecting your mental health.

If you’re struggling to break free from the overwhelm and want to learn more how LGTBQ therapy in NYC can help, click here to schedule a 15 minute consultation call with me. I specialize in helping LGBTQ+ individuals navigate both current stressors and past wounds, using trauma-informed approaches like EMDR therapy to heal and build resilience. You don’t have to carry this alone.