November 22, 2025
Social Crisis and Mental Health: A Feminist Perspective
Presented at National Radical Women meeting by Charlotte S.
Therapists, psychiatric nurses, social workers and psychologists employed by Kaiser Permanente in Southern California won improved conditions after a six-month strike in 2025.
As feminist socialists we understand the ways that mental health outcomes manifest under capitalism. Currently, what we’re seeing in the U.S. is that the Trump regime is a hateful and authoritarian one. On a daily basis we’re seeing attacks on the working class, marginalized and minoritized groups through misogyny, racism, homophobia, ableism, transphobia, xenophobia, etc… Almost daily there are executive orders and budget cuts that show total disregard for the rights of LGBTQ+ people and youth, women, immigrant children and families, people living with disabilities, and the poor and working class. The material conditions that oppressed groups have been forced to endure is inextricably linked to mental health outcomes. Hunger, homelessness, rising prices, low wages, unemployment, attacks on reproductive justice, correlate with the way people behave, feel about themselves, feel about their government, and feel about the world.
Systemic oppression creates mass trauma. We see it manifested as violence towards oneself or others, anxiety disorders, depression, loneliness, hopelessness, disassociation. Rates of suicide in the United States are currently at an all-time high and have been on the rise, especially among people of color and LGBTQ folks. Similarly, we’re seeing increases in rates of anxiety and depression, with particularly high rates for those living in low-income households.
Young people are also feeling the effects of sociopolitical stressors. In a new survey just conducted among young people in California:
- “About 94% report they experience regular mental health challenges — this was an increase from 87% in 2023, and one-third reporting their mental health as “fair” or “poor.”
- About 98% who reported poor mental health are youth of color
- 25% of those reporting poor mental health are LGBTQ+
- Among the highest stressors were gun violence, housing affordability, discrimination and climate change…” (https://edsource.org/2025/california-youth-mental-health-social-media/742989)
Just after Trump was elected last year, The Trevor Project (an organization that supports LGBTQ youth with a focus on suicide prevention), saw a 700% increase in calls to their crisis line. This is just one example of many, in which we’re seeing serious spikes in service utilization.
On college campuses, students are also experiencing the impacts of depression, anxiety and stress. This has been particularly felt by vulnerable groups, such as international students, many of whom have limited access to health insurance, are fearful of what will happen to their visa status or if they will be allowed back into the U.S. to finish their degrees. Financial aid has been limited and there are barriers to food access. There are concerns about personal safety, violence, and maintaining basic needs while in school. Mental health workers are experiencing very high rates of stress, fatigue, and exhaustion. Some surveys indicate that over half of mental health professionals in the country report burnout.
Major Cuts to Mental Health Care
This has only been exacerbated by massive cuts to mental health services. Before the cuts, we already had a shortage of medical and mental health care workers – and now what we’re seeing is that the entire system is being gutted.
Under Trump’s 2026 budget proposal, there are plans to cut over $1 billion in program funds from SAMSHA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration), which is one of the largest mental health agencies in the country.
In July of this year, the Trump administration made a major cut to specialized services for LGBTQ+ youth on the National Suicide Hotline – called the “Press 3” option, which connected young people to counselors specifically trained to support LGBTQ youth in crisis. The program had been running since 2022 and had over one million contacts in the past several years alone. Cuts to these hotlines have terrifying implications. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people and these call centers help to save lives.
Rape crisis and prevention programs are also losing funding. Because of the current attacks on DEI, one of the largest national organizations supporting survivors of sexual violence, faced pressure to cut specialized support for marginalized groups. Staff on the crisis line have been directed not to refer callers to specialized resources (like the Immigrant Legal Resource Center). This is just one of the ways that marginalized groups, and especially those experiencing multiple oppressions, face even greater barriers to accessing care.
Cuts have extended to the VA – where 30,000 healthcare employees (including psychologists and social workers) are expected to lose their jobs this fiscal year. This is coming at a time where VA clinics have already been seriously understaffed, and veterans (often living with conditions like PTSD, substance use disorders, chronic pain) are facing barriers to care. There have also been cuts to programs that help brain injury survivors, many of whom have lifelong mental health challenges.
Cuts to Medicaid and the “One Big Very Ugly Bill” are going to have a huge impact on how millions of people access and afford mental health care. As it stands, Medicaid is currently the largest payer of mental health services in the United States. With proposed cuts at up to $1 trillion, millions more people may be without access.
When mental health funding is squeezed, preventative care is often the first to go. In turn, this often means an increase in mental health crises and emergencies. People may not be able to access care until conditions worsen and then end up in crisis centers or hospitals.
Even for those who have not been directly affected by these cuts, many are living in a shadow of fear, heightened anxiety, and worry.
Concerns for Graduate Students
Right now, mental health systems are more than strained. There are fewer opportunities for students entering the field, high rates of burnout, and increasing daily demands on mental health workers.
For students in graduate programs, cuts to internship programs and funding are adding additional stress to the ability to complete or gain professional degrees.
Just this week, the Department of Education announced proposed changes in what they are considering “Professional and Non-Professional Degrees.” The changes will create a tier system where degrees like nursing, social work, and counseling are no longer going to be considered “professional.” What this will mean for students entering these fields, is that the loan amounts they can borrow will be lowered. The implications are that far fewer people will be able to afford entering these programs. It’s no coincidence that the professions being classified into “tier two” are female dominated fields. This is another ongoing misogynistic attack on working women and attempt to push women back into the domestic sphere.
Fighting Back
The systemic trauma that we’re seeing calls for systemic solutions. There is research that demonstrates the positive connections between activism and improved mental health. Activism offers people an opportunity to have voice, connect with others, participate in social change, and take power that’s theirs. Activism can help. Being in community helps.
In the same study mentioned earlier with young people in California, about two thirds reported feeling “optimistic about the future,” and “advocating for change.” Almost all of those who indicated a concern about climate change, were also engaged in taking pro-climate action. What this data shows, is that in a time when people are experiencing the mental health effects of living under this regime – there is also hope in taking back power and working towards change.
In May of this year, mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California, (including nurses, social workers, and psychologists), went on strike for over six months. This was the longest strike by mental health workers in U.S. history. And while there is more work to be done to support mental health workers there, they won very important gains including a 20% raise over four years, a reinstated pension plan guaranteeing retirement income, and more allotted time per week to focus on important administrative duties regarding patient care. There’s so much we can learn from this.
We need keep up this fight back. We need robust funding for community mental health programs and clinics; job protection and fair pay for mental health workers; grant funding for research, especially research focused on the mental health needs of the most oppressed; money for prevention programs in underserved communities; and accessible, affordable mental health care for all people. We need to confront and continue fighting back against the capitalist system that is causing so much suffering and distress.
Resources
National Association of Social Workers Resource and Action Center
National Domestic Violence Hotline