LIVING BETTER
Therapy exists for many reasons.
Some methods are meant to help people process trauma, while others support healthy relationships or address behavioral challenges.
Some offer a quiet place to reflect on your innermost thoughts and feelings; but therapy is not meant to be a place for politics.
Unfortunately, for some, that’s becoming more normal.
It’s hard to leave trauma at the door – even for therapists. Especially when that trauma comes in the form of politics affecting everyday life.
Recently, I’ve heard from several fellow survivors and therapy-goers their therapist made them uncomfortable — or even afraid — due to unwarranted political commentary.
Friends who are mental-health professionals have mentioned the challenges of navigating sessions in this polarizing climate. And they’re not alone.
According to “Psychology Today” Magazine, many therapists are struggling with how to address political distress during treatment sessions, while maintaining integrity and a sense of safety.
Clients report therapists making assumptions about their beliefs, cracking casual political jokes, or dismissing their valid experiences altogether.
One person I spoke with shared that after expressing fear of being targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement due to the color of their skin, despite their legal status, their therapist responded by blatantly invalidating their concern.
This led to a rupture in the trust they had built together over months.
Whether the therapist agrees with the client or not, it’s not healthy.
Unsolicited political commentary, especially when emotionally charged, can introduce bias into a room that is supposed to serve as a safe space in all the commotion and uncertainty of everyday life.
It’s unprofessional. And many clients don’t realize they can advocate for themselves in those moments of discomfort – or even report it.
Interjecting political beliefs into therapy sessions isn’t just insensitive; it’s a violation of ethical best practices.
It erases neutrality and, in some cases, could even put lives at risk. And the decision to find a new provider when trust is eroded often isn’t made lightly.
Leaving therapy isn’t as simple as calling around to find a new provider. It’s navigating complicated insurance networks – if you’re privileged enough to have coverage.
It’s tapping into savings, rearranging work schedules, and retelling traumas to someone new. It’s rebuilding trust over and over until you feel safe again, in an already retraumatizing system.
Therapists shouldn’t be expected to be immune to politics. They’re human, too. And it can, in fact, be deeply validating when a therapist acknowledges that things aren’t normal right now – that feeling overwhelmed in the state of everything is a natural response. But that kind of thoughtful consideration doesn’t necessarily require constant political commentary. Rather, it requires true presence and discernment.
Therapists themselves deserve therapy and additional support during tense political waves – especially now, when providing care for clients who may be more traumatized than ever. Therapists don’t need to be perfect. But they do need to read the room and be professional, reflective, and considerate. That’s the least we can ask.
This isn’t a call for therapists to pretend politics aren’t happening. That can be just as damaging. Politics shape peoples’ everyday lives – their housing, identity, and autonomy. But inserting political commentary where it wasn’t appropriate, fueling peoples’ anger and obsession, or judging them based on beliefs is dangerous. It can be stigmatizing, othering, and harmful and can lead to people getting hurt.
Maybe there’s a middle path amidst the chronic polarization. Maybe it looks like curiosity over assumption, and centering the client experience above all else.
At a time when social services are at risk and the emotional wellbeing of community members hangs in the balance, we must protect the few spaces we have left, including therapy. We all deserve that space. Clients and therapists alike.
Optional journaling prompt: What signs does my body give me that I am not feeling safe? How can I honor those feelings while acknowledging the difference between true danger and perceived threat?
Suggested reading: The Ethics of Caring Book – InnerEthics®
