How to Protect Your Mental Health When the World Feels Unsafe
- Dr. Nouna Jalilzadeh
- Jul 23
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 24
In today’s sociopolitical climate, many of us are carrying more than just our personal struggles—we’re carrying systemic weight. From ICE raids and reproductive rights rollbacks to anti-2SLGBTQIA+ legislation, racialized violence, and economic instability, entire communities are being targeted. If you hold multiple marginalized identities: if you are BIPOC, immigrant, undocumented, queer, trans, disabled, or a combination of any of these, it may feel like every part of your existence is under attack.
It makes sense that you don’t feel safe. That you’re overwhelmed. That you’re emotionally disconnected. It also makes sense if you’re trying to stay “strong” to protect others around you. But let’s be clear: these are not ordinary times, and these are not personal failures. What you’re experiencing is the psychological toll of surviving in an unstable and unsafe world.
Let’s explore how that shows up in our minds, bodies, and communities and how we can respond with care.
The Mental Health Toll of Uncertainty
Chronic Dysregulation
Our nervous systems are not built to exist in a constant state of threat. But for many, especially those in marginalized communities, this has become the norm. Ongoing political fear, racialized trauma, and structural violence activate our fight-or-flight response, leading to:
Elevated anxiety, hypervigilance
Irritability, emotional exhaustion
Difficulty focusing, disrupted sleep, appetite changes
Somatic symptoms (headaches, GI issues, muscle pain)
Flare-ups in autoimmune conditions due to prolonged stress
Emotional Overload and Disconnection
You may find yourself feeling hopeless, tearful, panicked, or chronically fatigued. Even as you scroll through social media—watching others advocate, grieve, or share resources—you may feel more alone than ever. Digital connection does not replace the intimacy of being witnessed, held, or understood in person.
The Grief of Losing Safety
For many, there’s a deep sense of grief for the stability, freedoms, and futures that once felt within reach. Whether it’s bodily autonomy, the right to parent or not parent safely, job security, or simply existing without fear, what’s been taken deserves to be mourned. Even if you’re not fully naming it as grief, your body knows.
Need to expand your skillset?
What Can We Do When Everything Feels Out of Control?
Doing anything at all—especially when everything feels like it’s on fire—can feel pointless. But please know: tending to your nervous system isn’t bypassing the reality of what’s happening. It’s creating enough internal capacity to survive, connect, and possibly even transform what feels unbearable.
Take what resonates, and leave what doesn’t.
On a Micro (Individual) Level:
Meet Your Basic Needs. Eat regularly. Hydrate. Get as much sleep as you can. Seek out people who nourish you. Human nervous systems are built for co-regulation—being around people who help you feel safe.
Create One Self-Love Ritual. Whether it’s journaling, singing, swaying, walking, dancing, or crying—these practices release stored emotion and help regulate the nervous system. As Dr. Bessel van der Kolk reminds us in The Body Keeps the Score, our bodies hold unspoken emotional histories. When we move, cry, breathe, or even shake—we aren’t breaking down; we’re processing. Release is not weakness—it’s repair.
Seek Therapy or Support. If available to you, therapy can be a powerful space for untangling internalized fear, grief, and anger—especially with a culturally attuned, trauma-informed clinician. Therapy is not just for healing the mind—it’s also about making space for the body to exhale
On a Mezzo (Community) Level:
Find or Build Community. Healing doesn’t happen in isolation. Join a support group, mutual aid collective, or cultural organization. Community care is often more accessible and effective than individual interventions alone.
Hold Space for Others. Whether it’s through shared meals, text threads, or group rituals, simply being present with one another—without needing to fix—can be transformative.
Connect With People Who Share Your Lived Experience. Peer-led support spaces or identity-based healing circles can reduce isolation and reignite hope. You don’t have to explain every part of your story to be understood.
On a Macro (Systemic) Level:
Your Form of Advocacy Matters. Not everyone is meant to take the podium—but we need the speech writers, the social media creators, the quiet advocates just as much. Whatever your energy allows—do that. It counts.
Educate and Raise Awareness. Whether it’s sharing your story, posting resources, or having conversations in your workplace or school—education leads to mobilization.
Engage Politically. Call representatives. Sign petitions. Vote when you can. Write letters. Organize. Collective change requires pressure—and that pressure can be applied in many ways.
Use Platforms That Amplify. Partner with organizations or allies who can extend your reach. Center your voice and community without having to carry the burden alone.
Final Thought: It’s Not Just You
You are not weak. You are responding—wisely—to a world that often feels unsafe for people who look, live, or love like you.
You are allowed to grieve, rage, rest, and protect your peace.
You are allowed to log off and tune in to yourself.
You are allowed to move slowly, or not at all.
You are allowed to be.
At Helping Hands Psychotherapy, we believe in both personal and collective healing. Whether you're navigating uncertainty on your own, with your family, or alongside your community, you don’t have to do it alone. We are here. We see you.
Comments