@drlaurengilbert DON’T MISS THIS:This trauma is first and foremost suffered in our immigrant communities.I don’t want to take the spotlight away from that.But I do want to add some nuance — especially for anyone wondering why they, personally, may be feeling so anxious lately.I’m a psychologist — and I want to say this clearly:What many people don’t realize is that our nervous systems are all affected by this kind of public dehumanization.Even if the threat isn’t aimed directly at you, your body still registers the violence. It registers it against people you love as well as people you don’t even know. And your system also makes it personal. Your system quietly whispers: “If that can happen to them… it could happen to me.”That’s collective trauma — and it lives in the body long after the moment passes.(And this moment? It’s not passing.)It shows up as:Anxiety.Irritability.Numbness.Doomscrolling.Rage.The trauma starts with those being targeted — and then it ripples outward to everyone who witnesses it, absorbs it, or tries to look away from it.Mental health doesn’t exist in a vacuum.Our systems, our policies, and our culture shape our internal reality.Don’t turn away from it. It’s impacting you whether you recognize it or not.Let’s use the tools we have — to find and create resilience SO THAT we can change the system.For those being targeted first and foremost.And for all of us. | Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents