Why Do I Feel Numb About Politics Even Though I Care? LGBTQ Therapy NYC: Understanding Emotional Numbing and Political Fatigue
I Should Care, So Why Don’t I Feel Anything?
Sometimes, what we’re facing individually or collectively gets us so anxious…it starts to shut us down or disconnects us. LGBTQ+ Therapy for anxiety and trauma in NYC can help!
Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy; uploaded from Unsplash on 2/26/2025.
Maybe you’ve felt it lately—a strange sense of detachment, like you’re watching everything happen from a distance. You know the political climate is a mess. You see the headlines. You register the attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, the systemic cruelty, the chaos. But instead of anger or action, you feel… nothing.
You’re not alone in this. And you’re not broken.
This isn’t apathy—it’s a trauma response. If you feel numb about politics, if it seems like you’ve hit some kind of emotional off-switch, it’s not because you don’t care. It’s because your body has decided it’s too much. And right now, it’s trying to protect you.
As a therapist specializing in LGBTQ+ trauma and EMDR therapy, I see this a lot. Political anxiety and overwhelm are real, but what’s less talked about is political hypoarousal—when stress shuts us down instead of revving us up.
If you’re struggling with this, I want to walk you through why it happens, why it makes sense, and how LGBTQ therapy in NYC can help you come back to yourself. For a deeper dive into other ways political anxiety manifests, check out the previous blog posts in this series:
What Is Emotional Numbing? (And Why It’s Not Just ‘Burnout’)
Burnout is exhaustion. Emotional numbness is something deeper.
When we talk about trauma responses, most people think of fight-or-flight. But there’s a third response: freeze. When our brains perceive a threat that feels overwhelming or inescapable, we don’t fight back or run—we go still. We detach. We shut down.
In the context of political stress, this means:
Feeling disconnected from the urgency of the world, even if you “know” it’s bad.
Having a hard time caring about things you once felt deeply about.
Feeling sluggish, foggy, and unable to focus.
Avoiding conversations about politics because they feel overwhelming or meaningless.
Being unable to sustain activism or engagement without crashing.
This isn’t burnout—this is your nervous system checking out for survival.
Why Is This Happening? (The Current Political Climate & LGBTQ+ Trauma)
Many clients I work with come from religious backgrounds and have religious trauma. Many sources of legislations targeting LGBTQ rights are sponsored by religious organizations. This lights up our own religious trauma histories just as much as serves as a current stressor.
Photo by Karl Fredrickson; Uploaded from Unsplash on 2/26/25.
Let’s be real: the political climate right now is completely disorienting. Everything feels unstable. The attacks on LGBTQ+ rights are relentless. And if you feel like your system has just tapped out—you’re not alone.
For LGBTQ+ individuals, the weight of political chaos doesn’t exist in isolation. It connects to a lifetime of learned survival strategies. Many of us grew up in environments where:
We had to suppress emotions to survive.
We were told that our identities weren’t valid or safe to express.
We were punished for caring “too much” or for speaking up.
We experienced rejection, discrimination, or other forms of harm just for existing.
So when today’s world mirrors those past experiences, our nervous systems default to what we know. If shutting down helped you survive before, your body assumes it’s the safest option now.
The Trauma-Adaptive Response: How Numbing Was Once a Survival Skill
If your body responds to stress by shutting down, it’s not random. It’s something you learned a long time ago—maybe in childhood, maybe in a past relationship, maybe from systemic oppression. It was a way to keep you safe.
For many LGBTQ+ individuals, growing up in non-affirming environments meant developing coping mechanisms that protected us from emotional pain. Dissociation, numbing, avoiding conflict—these were survival tactics. And now, when faced with overwhelming political stress, those same tactics kick in again.
This is why you might:
Struggle to stay engaged in activism or politics, even when you deeply care.
Feel guilty for “checking out” but not know how to re-engage.
Feel conflicted—your values tell you to act, but your body tells you to freeze.
The key isn’t to force yourself to care more—it’s to recognize that your body is responding exactly as it was trained to. And now, you have the opportunity to shift it.
How to Reconnect with Yourself: Coming Back from Emotional Numbing
1. Recognize It’s Happening (Without Judgment)
If you’re realizing, shit, this is me—pause. Take a breath. You are not broken. You are not weak. You are not failing.
This is your nervous system doing what it’s been conditioned to do. And that means you have options for shifting it.
2. Check In with Your Body (Because Your Mind Might Not Want To)
Can you feel your feet on the floor?
Can you sense your breath?
Can you wiggle your fingers and notice the sensation?
When the mind disconnects, the body can bring us back. Grounding exercises like these help reawaken your awareness in gentle ways.
3. Small Steps Toward Engagement
Instead of doomscrolling, read a summary news brief instead of Twitter rants.
Instead of feeling like you have to “fix” everything, pick one small, tangible action.
Instead of avoiding community, reach out to a friend or attend one event that feels manageable.
4. Support & Therapy: Breaking the Trauma Response for Good
This is where therapy—especially EMDR—can help. Numbing isn’t just a habit; it’s an embedded trauma response. And while self-care helps, sometimes we need structured support to truly shift the pattern.
Therapy provides a safe space to process past experiences that may be amplifying today’s stress, identify and shift numbing patterns so they don’t control you, and develop emotional resilience that allows you to engage with the world without feeling overwhelmed. Through this process, you also strengthen self-trust and gain clarity, which helps you navigate the complexities of the political climate and personal challenges with greater confidence and stability.
How LGBTQ Therapy in NYC Can Help (And Why EMDR Works for This)
I can serve as an Emotions Compass. Help guide you on your journey to more and more freedom and healing anxiety and trauma.
Photo by Ali Kazal; uploaded from Unsplash on 2/26/25.
If you’re feeling stuck, I want you to know there’s a way forward.
We can’t change the world overnight, but we can change how we hold it in our bodies.
Phase-Oriented Trauma Treatment & How EMDR Fits In
My approach to trauma treatment is phase-oriented, meaning we work in structured stages to ensure safety, processing, and integration. This typically involves:
Stabilization & Resourcing: Before processing trauma, we build skills for emotional regulation, grounding, and self-awareness. This ensures that when we do deeper trauma work, you have the tools to stay present and feel safe.
Processing Trauma: EMDR therapy helps process past trauma that keeps numbing patterns locked in place. Using bilateral stimulation, EMDR allows us to work through distressing memories and unstick the emotional charge, so they no longer control how you engage with the world.
Integration & Reconnection: Healing isn’t just about reducing distress; it’s about reclaiming your full emotional range and energy. In this phase, we focus on reconnecting with yourself, your values, and your ability to engage with the world in a way that feels aligned and sustainable.
Healing doesn’t mean you won’t care anymore—it means you’ll be able to care without it breaking you.
Final Thoughts: You Deserve Support
Your body learned this response for a reason. But if it’s keeping you stuck, you deserve support in shifting it.
If you’re ready to start feeling again—on your own terms—I’d love to help.
Click here to book a free 15-minute consultation and learn how LGBTQ Therapy in NYC can help you come back to yourself.
Because you don’t have to carry this alone.
Ready to feel more grounded, clear, and at peace? Schedule a free 15-minute consultation with Eric Hovis, LMHC. Offering online therapy for anxiety, trauma, and identity exploration across New York and Connecticut.
