Mental Fitness Matters: A Community Supporting Activism and Personal Resilience

Our group grew out of Dr. Bandy Lee’s weekly Zoom gatherings, coming together naturally from a shared commitment to understanding and responding to the challenges of today’s US political climate. What began as open conversations became a vibrant space for connection, reflection, and mutual support. Together, we recognized not only the gravity of the issues before us but also the potential for collective action.

Dr. Lee is a forensic and social psychiatrist who led a group of her colleagues in editing the New York Times bestselling books The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump (2017) and The Much More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump (2025). She hosts a Substack and a weekly Zoom meeting for subscribers. The group is a separate endeavor that she supports but does not attend.  

Our first meeting was held in January 2025, where we focused on fellowship and connection with participants. It is difficult to describe how such a grassroots effort has grown into a cohesive fellowship and safe place for people to gather. The group has spurred activism in both red and blue districts, and large cities as well as rural areas. 

For ROOM, we have invited members to speak of the role the group has played in their capacity to find emotional balance and to act constructively in these times.  

You can find us at MentalFitnessMatters.Substack.com

 

SUSAN CORTILET JONES, Moderator (North Carolina)

I am a licensed mental health counselor living in North Carolina. Like millions of others, I was feeling increasingly isolated and alone. Witnessing the weakening of our democracy by Donald Trump and his enablers has been disorienting. These gatherings have given me a framework to understand what was happening to me and others.

My reaction to the moment has roots in trauma in my early life. Growing up with a father who immigrated to Iowa from Canada, was a United States Marine, and a Korean War veteran (Chosen Reservoir), was difficult. I believe my father’s untreated PTSD drew him to Rush Limbaugh and then to Trump. Rage and fury were the catalyst. While I’ve had a lot of therapy to ease my trauma history, Trump 1.0 and his unfitness combined with the COVID pandemic escalated my anxiety. Trump 2.0, defined by cruelty and violence, has deepened my fear. The group and Dr. Lee are a lifeline: a weekly antidote that centers me and propels me to action. 

I have been active in social justice issues for decades. More recently, my focus has been on the Pro-Democracy Movement and climate issues especially related to wildlife conservation. I volunteered for Kamala Harris’s campaign in 2024. Protest, organizing, encouraging others to get involved, weekly meetings and other activities are a huge part of my life these days.

 

PAUL LORONA (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA)

As a licensed psychotherapist practicing in California, the gravity of Dr. Bandy X. Lee’s articulate warnings concerning Donald Trump’s mental fitness for the presidency immediately resonated with me. Dr. Lee, a former Yale psychiatrist and a prominent voice in the medical community, had been consistently raising alarms that I, among many others in my field, found profoundly compelling. My dedicated participation in her weekly live sessions, which convened a diverse group of mental health professionals and concerned citizens, organically led to an independent suggestion from a subset of these individuals to meet outside of Dr. Lee’s structured discussions. Though initially uncertain of the precise nature or direction of this nascent group, I felt an undeniable compulsion to connect with others who shared my acute understanding of the urgency inherent in our unfolding constitutional crisis. The erosion of norms, the divisive rhetoric, and the perceived instability at the highest levels of government were not abstract concepts to me; they were deeply disturbing realities that demanded a collective response.

The initial gatherings of our newly formed group indeed lacked immediate, concrete direction. There was no pre-ordained agenda, nor a clear path forward articulated from the outset. However, a palpable shared energy permeated our discussions—a silent yet powerful agreement that conveyed a collective readiness for deeper engagement and a commitment to understanding and addressing the complex challenges before us. Looking back, I can clearly identify that my continued and sustained involvement stemmed from a very personal, profound need for empowerment. Witnessing the slow-motion dismantling of established democratic institutions and the systematic erosion of civil liberties under the Trump administration—if one can even term its chaotic nature as an “administration” in the traditional sense—had been deeply unsettling, bordering on traumatizing, for me as a professional dedicated to mental well-being and as a concerned citizen. In this nascent group, I unexpectedly found a supportive community of like-minded individuals who not only identified with these intense sentiments of alarm and dismay but also articulated them with clarity and shared passion. What began as a vital place for mutual support, a space to process collective anxieties and fears, has since remarkably evolved into a more dynamic and action-oriented forum, intensely focused on identifying and implementing tangible solutions to safeguard democratic principles and foster a more stable societal environment.

 

LEILANI CARINIO KIRBY (NORTHERN CALIFORNIA)

I live in Northern California. I am Hawaiian, Filipina, and Irish. As an occupational therapist before retirement, I was honored to work with a diverse patient population. I am grateful to have walked with my patients on our shared path towards healing and wholeness. 

Before joining Dr. Lee’s Substack group, I was in chronic fear and stress from the pandemic and exposure to Donald Trump. His abuse towards Americans was so awful that it resulted in the emergence of c-PTSD (complex post-traumatic stress disorder). After having survived a narcissistic and abusive father, the emergence of Trump has been retraumatizing for me. When he was voted into the presidency a second time, I was beyond myself and feeling hopeless. I became more isolated, which affected me negatively, both emotionally and physically. I was trying to cope with stress reduction activities but it was making me feel crazily frustrated. I continued to question: How can this be happening!?

Dr Lee’s teachings, writings, and books have empowered me. Her psychological analysis of our time and her description of the pathology of Trump Contagion have been critical. Our Sunday group has helped me to find my voice, to be courageous in building friendships, and has given me the ability to connect to people  in a safe place that is supportive and kind.

Today I happily continue my growth journey as I am more reflective and contemplative about myself, my husband and children, extended family, friends, and God. I love gardening, swimming, and immersing myself in topics like neurology and psychology. I am increasingly close to the aina (“land” in Hawaiian). Subjects such as environmental protection, healthy oceans, bleaching coral and loss of fragile coral beds are a central part of my advocacy. 

 

ED PULLIN (PENNSYLVANIA)

I’m an electrical engineer and have spent my entire life as a resident of Pennsylvania. Having spent most of my career in large fortune 100 corporations, I have experienced the erosion that Game of Thrones–style politics causes in both organizations and corporations. A tyrant with power, whether a mid-level corporate manager run amok or the leader of the free world, can only create chaos and destruction.

In 2016, during Trump’s campaign, I read an article in Greater Good magazine entitled “Can the Science of Lying Explain Trump’s Support?” This article struck me and would later play a role in my engagement with Dr. Bandy Lee and my introduction to our group. Like many Americans, I was at a loss watching people rally to an obvious fraud in Trump, who was literally found liable for defrauding people with a fake university. At the same time, his supporters were screaming about the dishonesty of his opponent. It made no sense to me, but the dangers of the lack of integrity, the lack of standards, as well as a growing sense of unreality were becoming clearer and clearer to me. I came across Bandy Lee with her first book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President (2017). Dr. Lee’s discussion of the power dynamics that she observed in prison gangs rang a bell and was observable throughout the Trump 1.0 administration. My own experience told me there was only one destination that this would lead to: destruction.

More recently, when I joined Dr. Lee’s Substack session, I recalled the Greater Good article, which looked at when we find lying acceptable. The article suggested that one place we find lying acceptable is in war. My experience told me that lying is a form of violence to someone. It is a scrambling and a distortion of the senses that determine reality. I felt angry with MAGA because their assault on truth was an actual assault on people. When I got the opportunity to meet with Dr. Lee, I posed a simple question. Referencing the article’s idea of accepting lies when we’re at war, I asked Dr. Lee if she felt we were at war. She responded simply: Yes! 

Feeling vindicated, I mentioned friends and family I had stopped communicating with because of their support for MAGA. Dr. Lee suggested that while they are at war with us, the MAGA faithful are victims of the contagion: they believe we’re against them, but they need our help. As I listened to Dr. Lee’s recommendation and tried to process what it meant to show connection to people bent on hate and harm, on the screen I could see Susan Cortilet Jones with the same look of disbelief that I was experiencing. When Dr. Lee said we were free to meet as a group after, I knew I needed to participate with these people to think about building the American community that our values and ideals call for.  This group has provided a powerful guide on how to navigate the ontology of the unreality we are experiencing.  

As I continue my grassroots efforts, door knocking, communicating with voters of all stripes and messaging built to add, not subtract people, this group gives me the knowledge and strength to understand the human dynamics at play and provides me ways of being that enable me to stand as a community member in the American conversation.

 

ANNE MARIE MCLAUGHLIN (NEW JERSEY)

I am a licensed Registered Nurse practicing in hospice and palliative care.

My first exposure to Trump was when my grandmother, with tabloid in hand and an outraged tone, said, “Can you believe Donald Trump is cheating on his lovely wife and beautiful children?” It was 1989; I was 25 years old. I often find myself thinking about my grandmother. As much as I miss her, I am grateful she is at peace and not here to witness this unprecedented time in our country’s history.

Fast forward to 2016 and to my dismay and shock when Donald Trump was elected to the presidency. l can remember trying to remain calm and cautiously optimistic that he would begin acting presidential and “normal.” However, it became apparent to me that he was unfit for the office, and that he suffered from some type of mental disorder. I could not help but question why no one was talking about the president’s mental health. I tentatively spoke with friends and family about my concerns, which often led to an awkward silence or pause in conversation. I would simply change the topic to restart the conversation. I began to doubt myself and felt confused. I am not proud to admit that, as a coping strategy, I tabled my concerns, fell back in line, and began to absorb myself in the day-to-day routine of daily living.

In early 2018, I was immediately drawn to learn more about Dr. Bandy X. Lee as she was being interviewed on network television. I listened as she expressed serious concerns about the president’s mental capacity and fitness to serve. I began to feel as if a weight had been lifted:   Finally, mental health professionals were speaking out! Then suddenly, as swiftly and unexpectedly as Dr. Lee had appeared on network television, she was gone.

When Donald Trump had secured enough delegates in early March 2024 to become the Republican party’s presumptive nominee, I sprang into action. I was terrified of another Trump presidency. While in my past, I had traveled to Washington, DC, and had spent days meeting with our congressional leaders advocating for the Medicare Hospice benefit, I had never followed politics, let alone volunteered on behalf of a presidential candidate. It felt empowering to turn anxiety into action. While I had spoken with many voters who supported Kamala Harris, as election day approached, an overwhelming sense of dread began to gnaw at me. Despite the feeling, I kept focused and continued to volunteer as often as possible, while maintaining a full-time professional position.

After Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, I was scared, anxious, frustrated, and confused. I joined Dr. Lee’s Substack and began to attend her weekly Friday Zoom calls. I had an insatiable thirst for the knowledge she was sharing. Her work has been transformative. I am eternally grateful.

I queried the group to learn if anyone would be interested in meeting regularly outside of Dr. Lee’s scheduled sessions. While we came together due to common concern, we have shared different perspectives. This group has become a safe community where participants feel heard, both through self-exploration and through sharing ideas. Many unique partnerships have formed in pursuit of advocacy and actionable ideas. Many of us have forged friendships off-line. 

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”—Margaret Mead

 

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Mental Fitness Matters has crafted a clear mission statement that reflects our strengths and aspirations: “We aim to educate and empower individuals to critically evaluate political messaging, inoculating them against manipulation and propaganda through various means of communication. We foster critical thinking and open-mindedness, while consulting with mental health practitioners to support overall well-being amidst the challenges of the current political climate.”

Through social media and Substack, we’ve expanded to create opportunities for wider impact. We are developing community-level projects that bring accessible educational resources—on topics such as critical thinking—directly into local spaces where they can inspire dialogue and growth.

For people who follow Dr. Bandy X. Lee’s work, we are a group that meets on Sundays via Zoom. For more information, please contact susan.cortilet@gmail.com or follow us on Substack.