05/02/2026
Democracy, distress, and psychological wellbeing
It’s early in the year, yet the tone in public life already feels tense.
When trust in institutions drops and public debate turns hostile, it doesn’t stay “out there”. It shows up in bodies and relationships: more vigilance, more fatigue, more cynicism, less hope. People disengage. Others get pulled toward certainty and blame — because uncertainty is hard to live with.
Democracy isn’t just a set of rules. It’s a social system that depends on participation, safety, and shared reality. When those weaken — when truth becomes negotiable, when protest is treated as a threat, when compassion is mocked as softness — polarisation grows and extremes gain ground.
What helps is not more outrage, but practical repair: cooperation, sincerity, tolerance, and leadership that protects participation rather than narrowing it.
This is mental health work at scale.
At Harmonia, we pay attention to how social climates shape psychological wellbeing.