Like I wrote about in 2022, political action can actually be therapeutic. When we watch the day’s news, we see a lot of things that we can’t see a way to meaningfully impact. Sometimes in therapy, people express feeling like they have no control over what’s happening and what they do is meaningless. So the logical solution is to detach, and detaching from politics can be therapeutic. In fact, sometimes that is the healthiest thing for us. In particular, limiting the harm of activities like doomscrolling can be very helpful by reducing your exposure to triggering information and events. However, avoiding what’s happening in the world does not make it go away and does not stop it from harming you ultimately. 

You might engage significantly in political action already, and feel like it’s harming your mental health. Rather than choosing between taking or not taking political action, consider how you relate to it and how much you do it. You need to change your goals and expectations from shifting the entirety of society to making smaller changes that influence people’s individual lives in service of those bigger goals. The changes you make, even if you can only impact one person, can be significant. Just think of what someone else has done for you and how much of an impact it made. You can be that to someone else, and many more. You don’t have total control, but you do have some. Whether you’re currently active or not, taking political action with the right perspective and goals improves your mental health by showing you how much you can influence the results of your life. 

Key steps in therapeutic political action 

First, Limit the Harm of Triggers

Limit the harm of triggers by being intentional about your exposure. There is a lot that you can’t control, and if that’s being pushed to you in notifications, you’re going to feel more out of control. I don’t know about you, but the algorithms give me more inactionable posts that inspire rage and hopelessness, than actionable posts with ways to make concrete changes in my local community. While less personalized, 24/7 TV news channels function similarly, focused on maximizing engagement over an indefinite period of time to keep you watching as much as possible, rather than turning the TV off to do something to help the situation. Consider what you’re being exposed to, how often you’re exposed, and what effect it has on you. Consider modifying your exposure in a way that best helps you. This is going to look different for everyone, talk to your therapist about it, but some things to consider if they’re right for you: only check news and/or social media at the beginning or end of the day to limit how often you’re exposed, check triggering news sources like social media or TV less often, unfollow accounts/stations that provide more upset than useful information for you. However, these might not be the solutions for you. Be intentional about when and how you’re exposed, and if that is serving your mental health needs. 

Second, Identify what is most important to you

There are many, many issues to focus on, it’s overwhelming. Narrow your focus by thinking about what feels most important to you, and/or what do you have the most power to change. Maybe your deep passion is the environment, and you have the opportunity to work with a group addressing environmental policy in your city. Or maybe you’re passionate about tax rates, but it’s something that you don’t have a lot of power to control. However, you also care about how people are treated in the workplace and you manage a team of people. It’s important to care about what you’re working on, while also having a pathway to influencing change.

Third, Narrow your focus and your goals

You probably can’t change the entire country or world on your own, but you can have a major impact on people’s lives. Take a moment to remember a time when someone really helped you meaningfully. You can be that person for someone else. Think about what you identified as the issue you care about and have the ability to influence. Is there someone or something nearby who you can support related to this, on an individual level? Can you help others nearby you learn to be more in-line with your values? Can you advocate within your local community (at your job, your faith group, a local restaurant, your friends) by explaining how your changes have helped your life or would help theirs? You can, of course, also bring your efforts into the sociopolitical arena as well. Just make sure you have some more tangible experiences at a more personal level to ground you in the value of what you’re doing.

Fourth, Increase your chances of success through evidence-based approaches

The key value of narrowing your focus is so that you can achieve tangible results, be they implementing new programs local to you or even changing one person’s mind, behavior, or experience. But in order to achieve results at any level, you have to think about what is effective. There are a lot of opinions about what works and why, and there isn’t one easy answer. You should consider those perspectives and the evidence underlying them (whether it’s for systematic change or person-to-person change). Doing something more likely to be effective increases your chance of seeing yourself producing change, increasing your hope and value in taking action. On a person-to-person level, one strategy often used by therapists to motivate different behavior is called Motivational Interviewing, and there has been a lot of research showing that it works in clinical settings. In Motivational Interviewing, someone needs to have a desire for and reasons to change, alongside a belief in their ability and an urgent need to do it. Helping someone through that process involves asking open-ended questions, affirming their ability to change, and expressing empathy.

Your journey is your journey

These strategies should help you on your journey, but it’s not going to look the same as everyone else’s. Try things, but make space to reflect on what is or isn’t working for you. Your therapist can help you through that!